Massoud Jr throwing the gauntlet to the Taliban in Panjshir

Ahmed Adel

Ahmed Massoud started coming to the limelight once more, after successive events in Afghanistan and the country’s president’s escape.

Some people are calling on Massoud to confront the Taliban after it overran the country and controlled its capital on August 15.

Massoud Jr seeks to lead the resistance again against the Taliban in the Panjshir region, north of Kabul, where he would follow in the footsteps of his father, Ahmed Shah Massoud who led the resistance front against the Taliban in the past. Massoud was killed by al-Qaeda two days before the September 11 attacks of 2001.

Afghans consider Massoud a leader of the war, as he led the war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

Afghan resistance

Massoud Jr aspires to form a strong opposition front against the Taliban. He appears as the most prominent candidate to create a pole of opposition inside Afghanistan to the Taliban movement, whether at the political or military levels, in Panjshir where he hails from.

He attended schools in Tajikistan and Iran, and studied between 2010 and 2011 at the British Royal Military Academy.

Massoud Jr received a degree in war studies from King’s College in the UK. He obtained a master’s degree in international politics from the University of City in London.

After returning to Afghanistan in 2016, he became active in politics.

Massoud made the Panjshir Valley a center for his resistance and the regrouping of his forces with support from Vice-President Amrullah Saleh.

The valley is characterized by its mountainous terrain, which made it difficult for the Taliban to gain control of the province.

After the downfall of Kabul in the Taliban’s lab, Massoud Jr revealed in an opinion piece he wrote in The Washington Post that thousands of Afghan commandos and army officers took refuge in the difficult terrain of Panjshir.

Invitation to the West

Massoud Jr called on the West to help him stand up against the Taliban.

He said Afghan soldiers had brought with them dozens of military vehicles, armored vehicles and military aircraft to confront the Taliban.

Footage appeared on social media to show Saleh and Massoud Jr together in the Panjshir Valley.

They appear to have prepared for the insurgency against the Taliban.