Resistance Against Taliban Grows Due To Brutal, Oppressive Policies, Says NRF Leader

Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the National Resistance Front (NRF) said that the resistance against the Taliban has now expanded to Takhar and Badakhshan provinces.

On Thursday, Massoud praised the recent protests of Afghan women and said that despite brutal violence, the Taliban has not been able to defeat the spirit and will of the people in Afghanistan.

The NRF leader participated in the three-day Aspen Security Forum virtually on Thursday.

Two years after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, during the Aspen Forum, the NRF leader didn’t talk widely about his operations against the Taliban, and most of his speech was focused on criticising the US negotiations with the Taliban in Doha and Washington’s mistakes in Afghanistan.

Massoud also didn’t discuss his military strategy in Afghanistan and instead emphasised that he believes in a political solution to end the conflict in the country.

Ahmad Massoud criticised the Taliban for ignoring the peace talks with the National Resistance Front.

In response to the question of why Afghans didn’t fight against the Taliban like the Ukrainians do against the Russian forces, Ahmad Masoud said that the Afghan military forces fought against the Taliban with "incomparable" bravery and the people still resist the Taliban "with empty hands".

He repeatedly mentioned women's demonstrations against the Taliban, which, according to him, have been severely suppressed by the group.

The leader of the National Resistance Front criticised the United States and said that the Afghans did not receive the support that Ukraine is receiving now.

Massoud explained that his father, Ahmad Shah Masoud, fought against the Taliban in the 1990s and prevented the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan. He added that the Americans never paid attention to his father regarding the worsening situation in Afghanistan and the solution he offered.

Panjshir was one of the important bastions of resistance against the former Soviet forces and later under the Taliban in the late 1990s. However, in 2021 after the Afghan government fell to the Taliban, Panjshir was easily captured by the group.

Ahmad Massoud emphasised that the Taliban will never be able to win the "hearts and minds" of the people of Panjshir and that the resistance has spread to other provinces of Afghanistan.

He asked the international community to support the "efforts of the people for freedom".

Ahmad Massoud said, "We feel that we have been betrayed and we feel alone in this situation. But after all, we have each other.”