PARIS: The leader of a resistance movement to the Taliban has vowed to never surrender but is open to negotiations with the new rulers of Afghanistan, according to an interview published by Paris Match on Wednesday.

Ahmad Massoud, the son of legendary Afghan rebel commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, has retreated to his native Panjshir valley north of Kabul along with former vice-president Amrullah Saleh.

“I would prefer to die than to surrender,” Massoud told French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy in his first interview since the Taliban took over Kabul.

“I’m the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud. Surrender is not a word in my vocabulary.” Massoud claimed that “thousands” of men were joining his National Resistance Front in Panjshir valley, which was never captured by invading Soviet forces in 1979 or the Taliban during their first period in power from 1996-2001.

He renewed his appeal for support from foreign leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, and expressed bitterness at being refused weapons shortly before the fall of Kabul earlier this month.

“I cannot forget the historic mistake made by those I was asking for weapons just eight days ago in Kabul,” Massoud said, according to a transcript of the interview published in French.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2021

Opinion

Editorial

What next?
Updated 21 Sep, 2023

What next?

One wonders that if administrative measures were all that were needed to arrest the rupee’s sorry slide, why were they not taken sooner?
Greater representation
21 Sep, 2023

Greater representation

PAKISTAN now stands at a significant juncture, with the names of 11.7m more women added to the voter list, ...
Lost generations
21 Sep, 2023

Lost generations

IF those who wield power in Pakistan think that the nation can progress when tens of millions of its children have...
Sikh activist’s murder
Updated 20 Sep, 2023

Sikh activist’s murder

Perhaps Indians have taken a page out of Mossad’s handbook in organising a hit on an individual they considered a ‘terrorist’.
ECP’s preparations
Updated 20 Sep, 2023

ECP’s preparations

The revision of the delimitation timeline still does not mean elections will be held according to the constitutional schedule.
Futures on hold
20 Sep, 2023

Futures on hold

IT is a sad turn of events when one is caught between choosing to fill their fuel tanks to get to work or paying the...