Afghanistan - Ahmed Shah Massoud/The United Front

The "Lion of Panshir" was born in 1952 to an army officer. He is credited with being the main reason the Russians hightailed it out of Afghanistan. He lives with his wife, son, and two daughters in Taloqan. His family home is in Rokas in the Panjshir valley. He perfected the Afghan style of guerrilla warfare and has a personal charisma that kept squabbling factions together. Currently he is supposed to be Rabbani's defense minister in an ever shuffling government lineup. The truth is that Commander Ahmed Shah Massoud holds all the cards. He personally controls and leads a well-trained 6,000-10,000-man army and is surrounded by commanders who have been fighting for three decades. He also has surrounded himself with young twenty-something commanders like Doaud, who pushed back the Talibs from his headquarters in Taloqan. Massoud is one of those leaders who is morally and financially pure, motivated only by a burning resolve to give his people a democratic government of their own choosing. He operates as "the minister of defense" in a government that has the same continuity as a pickup basketball game. He is ultimately a Tajik and a man with great personal charisma, energy and tenacity. For now he has surrounded himself with bright young men and hardened commanders, some of whom swap sides depending on who is winning. He is prepared to head into the hills and fight a guerrilla war-as he was almost forced to last year-despite his tiny real estate holdings (Massoud has about 40,000 soldiers). The alliance will tell you that the 80/20 stuff you hear is a little wrong. Population-wise they like to think that they represent about 30 percent or more of the population, considering the Taliban don't really occupy large parts of rugged Afghanistan. He is hurting from recent losses of tanks, helicopters (down to 12 from around 45) and only about 4 operating gunships (not including the 2 on the river outside his house in the Panjshir)

Although he stills wears the jaunty pakool (adopted from his early years in Nuristan) he is getting a little gray around the temples and close friends says that he feels a little more embattled after almost three decades of constant fighting. He still has a nice collection of armor, artillery and even has about 20 SCUD-Bs stashed in the Panshir valley. Vague rumors say that he was handed $50 million from a high-ranking American diplomat to squeeze the Taliban militia, that he has Iranian backing and now French help. DP didn't see much evidence if he did. The truth is the Northern Alliance often has a hard time scratching up the $420 it takes to refuel their helicopters before they take off from Dushanbe for Taloqan. They do have a new supply base at Sher Qila, situated on the other side of river Oxus inside Tajikistan. and there are plenty of piles of new mines, rockets, AKs and bullets to be seen.

His soldiers make around 15,000 northern afghanis a month( a 56-kg wheat ration). Massoud wants to fight the Taliban on as many fronts as possible but attributes the Taliban's success to support by the Pakistani Secret Police (ISI), something he knows firsthand since he was originally trained by the ISI when he was a student in Peshawar.

Massoud is the third of six sons of a well-off Tajik army officer. He was raised in Kabul and attended the French Lycee Istiqlal secondary school. He studied at the Polytechnic college, where he also met Rabbani. There he also met Hekmatyar, who was the most dominant figure in the Afghan student group. He along with other Afghan refugees were trained in a one-month course by the ISI in the Cherat army camp near Peshawar. Massoud was sent into Afghanistan in July of '75 with 30 other Afghans, resulting in half of his comrades being arrested or killed. Two months later, Massoud formed an alliance with Rabbani, who led the Jamiat-i-Islami (Islamic Society), and Hekmatyar formed the hard-line Hezbi Islami group.

In 1976 Pakistan backed Hekmatyar and turned against Rabbani, resulting in arrests and torture and murder of some of Massoud's friends as spies. He never forgave Hekmatyar and the Pakistanis for their treachery.

Daoud was killed in a military coup that brought the Communists to power in 1978 and Massoud returned to the Panjshir in the spring of '79 to join the growing revolt. He battled against government troops and was wounded in the leg. Within a year Massoud became the leader of the Panjshir. When the Russians invaded to prop up the Communist government, they tried unsuccessfully to wrest the strategic valley from the rebels.

Hekmatyar was the main recipient of the CIA and ISI's largesse and kept his base inside Pakistan while Massoud fought the Russians in the mountains with his army of 8,000 men. After the fall of the Russians, a civil war broke out with Pakistani-backed Hekmatyar and Rabbani. For now Massoud takes the long-term view, hoping that Afghanistan will be run by its own people and that the outside meddling of Russia, the United States or Pakistan will slowly bleed to death. Today the government has created the more rebellious sounding United Front of Afghanistan, a loose collection of minorities and political interests against the Talibs.

Journalists who want to enter northern Afghanistan or contact Massoud can try to reach him through his younger brother Ahmad Walid Massoud at the Afghan embassy in London; call (0171) 589 8891. Wally will provide assistance only to mainstream and credentialed journalists, aid workers, etc.

http://www.afghan-government.com/

Embassy of the Islamic State of Afghanistan (UK)

31 Prince Gate London SW7 1QQ

Tel: 0171) 589 8891

Fax: (0171) 581 3452

http://www.afghan-government.com/

Dr. Abdullah (Official Representative in New York)

00 873 761 8942 75/ 873 614 780 73

UK mobile 0370 890 372

Engineer Ishaq (Representative in Panjshir Valley)

873 762 0175 33

Fax: 873 762 0175 34