View source for Ahmad Shah Massoud

{{short description|Afghan military leader (1953–2001)}}
{{distinguish|text=his son [[Ahmad Massoud]] or his brothers [[Ahmad Zia Massoud]] and [[Ahmad Wali Massoud]]}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2025}}
{{Update|date=March 2022}}<!-- Do NOT add citations to the lead, except for material likely to be challenged, per [[MOS:LEADCITE]] ([[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section#Citations)]]. Move unneeded citations to the body. -->
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = 
| name                = Ahmad Shah Massoud
| native_name         = {{nobold|احمد شاه مسعود}}
| native_name_lang    = prs
| image               = Ahmad Shah Massoud EP 2001 (2) (cropped).jpg
| image_size          = 
| caption             = Massoud at the [[European Parliament]] in 2001
| office              = [[Ministry of Defense (Afghanistan)|Minister of Defense]] of [[Islamic State of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]]
| term_start          = 28 April 1992
| term_end            = 9 September 2001{{Clear}}{{small|In opposition to the Taliban from 27 September 1996}}
| president           = [[Burhanuddin Rabbani]]
| predecessor         = [[Mohammad Aslam Watanjar]]
| successor           = [[Mohammed Fahim]]
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1953|09|02|df=yes}}{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2001|09|09|1953|09|02|df=yes}}
| birth_place         = [[Bazarak, Panjshir|Bazarak]], [[Kingdom of Afghanistan]]
| death_place         = [[Takhar Province]],<br> [[Islamic State of Afghanistan]]{{Efn|Pronounced dead in or near [[Dushanbe]], Tajikistan<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/india-airlifts-military-hospital-to-tajikistan-to-strengthen-geo-strategic-footprint-in-central-asia/articleshow/19609593.cms?from=mdr|title=India airlifts military hospital to Tajikistan to strengthen geo-strategic footprint in Central Asia|newspaper=The Economic Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/10/05/afghan-rebels-rebound-from-their-leaders-death/982ed6a7-bf5d-4d38-85d6-8da486ff1cd7/ |title= Afghan Rebels Rebound From Their Leader's Death  |first1=William |last1=Branigin |date=October 5, 2001 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=August 23, 2021 |archive-date=August 27, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170827081816/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/10/05/afghan-rebels-rebound-from-their-leaders-death/982ed6a7-bf5d-4d38-85d6-8da486ff1cd7/ }}</ref>}}
| death_cause         = [[Assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud|Assassination]]
| party               = [[Jamiat-e Islami]]
| spouse              = Sediqa Massoud
| children            = 6, including [[Ahmad Massoud|Ahmad]]
| nickname            = {{transliteration|prs|Shir-i Panjshir}} (Lion of Panjshir)
| branch              = {{flagicon image|Flag of Jamiat-e Islami.svg}} [[Jamiat-e Islami]] / [[Shura-e Nazar]]{{Efn|Part of the [[Afghan mujahideen]].}}<br />{{flagicon image|Flag of Afghanistan (1992–2001).svg}} [[Afghan Armed Forces]]<br />{{flagicon image|Flag of Afghanistan (1992–2001).svg}} [[Northern Alliance|United Islamic Front]]
| serviceyears        = 1975–2001
| rank                = [[General]]
| commands            = [[Jamiat-e Islami|Mujahideen]] commander during the [[Soviet–Afghan War]]<br />Commander of the [[United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan|United Islamic Front]]
| battles             = {{tree list}}
* [[1975 Panjshir Valley uprising]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/martyrs-week-massoud%E2%80%99s-death-anniversary-commemorated|title=Martyrs Week, Massoud's Death Anniversary Commemorated|work=Tolo News|date=September 9, 2019|quote=Two years later, in 1975, he led the first rebellion of Panjshir residents against the government of that time.}}</ref>
* [[Soviet–Afghan War]]
** [[Panjshir offensives (Soviet–Afghan War)|Panjshir offensives]]
*** [[Panjshir Front]]
** [[First Panjshir Offensive]]
** [[Second Panjshir Offensive]]
** [[Operation Arrow]]
** [[Marmoul offensives]]
** [[Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan]]
**{{ill|Operation Typhoon (Panjshir)|ru|Операция_«Тайфун»_(1989)}}
*[[Afghan Civil War (1989-1992)|First Afghan Civil War]]
* [[Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)|Second Afghan Civil War]]
** [[Afshar Operation]]
* [[Afghan Civil War (1996–2001)|Third Afghan Civil War]]{{Assassinated}}
{{tree list/end}}
| awards              = National Hero of Afghanistan<br />[[File:Order Ismoili Somoni Rib.png|border|23px]] [[Order of Ismoili Somoni]]
| parents             = [[Dost Muhammad Khan (colonel)|Dost Muhammad Khan]]
}}

'''Ahmad Shah Massoud'''{{efn|[[Dari]]: {{Lang|fa|{{nq|احمد شاه مسعود}}}}, {{IPA|prs|ʔahˈmæd ʃɑːh masʔˈuːd|}}}} (2 September 1953{{spaced ndash}}9 September 2001) was an Afghan military leader and politician. Known as the "'''Lion of Panjshir'''", he was the foremost commander of [[Afghan mujahideen]] against the Soviet occupation during the [[Soviet–Afghan War]] from 1979 to 1989. In the 1990s, he led the government's military wing against rival militias, and actively fought against the [[Taliban]], from the time the regime rose to power in 1996, and until [[Assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud|his assassination]] in 2001.

Massoud came from a [[Tajik people|Tajik]] [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] [[Muslims|Muslim]] background in the [[Panjshir Valley]] in northern Afghanistan. He began studying engineering at [[Polytechnical University of Kabul]] in the 1970s, where he became involved with religious anti-[[communist]] movements around [[Burhanuddin Rabbani]], a leading [[Islamism|Islamist]]. He participated in a failed uprising against [[Mohammed Daoud Khan]]'s government. He later joined Rabbani's [[Jamiat-e Islami]] party. During the Soviet–Afghan War, he successfully resisted the Soviets from taking the Panjshir Valley. In 1992, he signed the [[Peshawar Accord]], a peace and power-sharing agreement, in the post-communist [[Islamic State of Afghanistan]]. He was appointed the [[Ministry of Defense (Afghanistan)|Minister of Defense]] as well as the government's main military commander. The accord was opposed by [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]] and other warlords, initiating the [[Second Afghan Civil War]].

Following the rise of the Taliban in 1996, Massoud, who rejected the group's extremist interpretation of Islam, returned to armed opposition until he was forced to flee to [[Kulab, Tajikistan|Kulob]], [[Tajikistan]], strategically destroying the [[Salang Tunnel]] on his way north. He became the military and political leader of the [[United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan]] or Northern Alliance, which by 2000 controlled only between 5 and 10 percent of the country. In 2001 he visited Europe and urged [[European Parliament]] leaders to pressure [[Pakistan]] on its support for the Taliban. He also asked for humanitarian aid to combat the Afghan people's gruesome conditions under the Taliban. On September 9, 2001, Massoud was injured in a [[suicide bombing]] by two [[al-Qaeda]] assassins, ordered personally by the al-Qaeda leader [[Osama bin Laden]] himself; he lost his life while en route to a hospital across the border in Tajikistan. Two days later, al-Qaeda operatives carried out the [[September 11 attacks]], prompting swift military action by the United States. Within weeks, American and [[NATO]] forces [[United States invasion of Afghanistan|invaded]] Afghanistan, allying with Massoud's forces and toppling the Taliban from power. By December 2001, the Northern Alliance had secured control over the country.

Massoud has been described as one of the greatest guerrilla leaders of the 20th century and has been compared to [[Josip Broz Tito]], [[Ho Chi Minh]] and [[Che Guevara]]. Massoud was posthumously named "National Hero" by the order of President [[Hamid Karzai]] after the Taliban were ousted from power. The date of Massoud's death, September 9, was observed as a national holiday known as "Massoud Day" until the [[2021 Taliban offensive|Taliban takeover]] in August 2021. His son [[Ahmad Massoud]] is currently leading the [[National Resistance Front]] (NRF) against the Taliban.

==Early life==
[[File:Massoud's Property.jpg|thumb|left|View of [[Panjshir Valley]] from Massoud's Tomb]]
Ahmad Shah Massoud was born in 1953 in the small village of [[Bazarak|Jangalak, Bazarak]] in the [[Panjshir Valley]] (now administered as part of the Panjshir Province), to a well-to-do family native to the [[Panjshir Valley]].<ref>According to his biographer Michael Barry, his exact date of birth was not recorded (M. Barry, ''Massoud: de l'islamisme à la liberté'', p. 56).</ref><ref name=":02">{{cite book |last=Gall |first=Sandy |title=Afghan Napoleon: The Life of Ahmad Shah Massoud |date=2021 |publisher=Haus Publishing |isbn=978-1-913368-22-7 |location=London |pages=20–21, 22 |author-link=Sandy Gall}}</ref> Massoud's name at birth was 'Ahmad Shah' after [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]], founder of the modern, unified [[Afghanistan|state of Afghanistan]], later taking the name 'Massoud' as a ''[[Pseudonym|nom de guerre]]'' in 1974 when he joined the resistance movement against the forces of [[Mohammed Daoud Khan|Daoud Khan]].<ref name=":02" /><ref>Barry, Michael, ''Massoud: de l'islamisme à la liberté'', p. 57.</ref> Massoud's father, [[Dost Muhammad Khan (colonel)|Dost Mohammad Khan]], was a [[colonel]] in the Royal Afghan Army; his mother, Bibi Khorshid has been described as a "modern-minded" woman who taught herself to read and write determined to educate her daughters no less than her sons.<ref name=":02" />

Moving along with his father's postings, the adolescent Massoud attended [[primary school]] in [[Afghanistan]]'s western [[Herat|city of Herat]] before his father was dispatched to [[Kabul]].<ref>M. Barry, ''Massoud'', p. 57.</ref><ref name=":02" /> There, Massoud was sent to the [[France|Franco]]-[[Afghanistan|Afghan]] [[Centre d'Enseignement Français en Afghanistan|Lycée Esteqlal]] ([[Literal translation|lit]]. Independence High School) where he attained his proficiency in [[French language|French]].<ref name="Grad2">{{cite book |last=Marcela Grad |title=Massoud: An Intimate Portrait of the Legendary Afghan Leader |publisher=Webster University Press |year=2009 |page=310}}{{ISBN|9780982161500}}</ref><ref name=":02" /> Massoud's experience at [[Centre d'Enseignement Français en Afghanistan|Lycée]] would be formative and, as he would later remark, was the happiest period of his life. At [[Centre d'Enseignement Français en Afghanistan|Lycée]] his classes were taught by French and Afghan tutors educated in [[France]] and the students donned Western [[jacket]]s, [[necktie]]s, [[trousers]], [[skirt]]s, [[Scarf|scarves]], and [[stocking]]s. Although his knowledge of the [[French language]] would earn him greater affinity among French [[journalist]]s and [[politician]]s, later [[Conservatism|conservative]] [[Islamism|Islamist]] opponents such as [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]] and [[Taliban|the Taliban]] would derogatorily dub him "The Frenchmen" or "The [[Parisian (person)|Parisian]]" suggestive of his sympathies to [[Western culture]].<ref name=":02" />

While at the [[Centre d'Enseignement Français en Afghanistan|Lycée]], Massoud was described as an intellectually-gifted student, hard-working, religiously devout, and mature for his age with a particular interest in [[ethics]], [[politics]], [[Universal jurisdiction|universal justice]]. Friends and family recall an instance where Massoud, returning from school, came to the defense of a younger boy leaving the three [[Bullying|bullies]] knocked-out on the pavement. More formatively, Massoud followed closely reports of the [[Six-Day War|1967 Six-Day War]] and the defiant statements of [[Arabs|Arab]] leaders like [[President of Egypt|Egyptian President]] [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]]. He later told researcher Peter DeNeufville that, at fourteen, the [[Six-Day War|war]] left him determined to be a [[soldier]] and gave him a new regard for [[Pan-Islamism]] after hearing the stories told by [[Jordanian Armed Forces|Jordanian]], [[Egyptian Armed Forces|Egyptian]], and [[Syrian Armed Forces|Syrian]] soldiers defending their homelands.<ref name=":02" /> Massoud refused repeated suggestions to apply for a scholarship to study in France expressing his desire to remain in Afghanistan and apply to [[National Military Academy of Afghanistan|the nation's military academy]] in [[Kabul]].<ref name=":02" />

By protest of his father and eldest brother, Massoud enrolled at [[Kabul Polytechnic University|Kabul Polytechnic Institute]], then [[Kabul University]]'s newest and most prestigious addition founded, financed, and operated by the [[Soviet Union]]. Massoud studied [[engineering]] and [[architecture]] but never attempted to learn [[Russian language|Russian]]. There he found interest in [[politics]], [[political Islam]], and [[anti-Communism]] which often put him and his pious peers at odds with [[Communism|communist]]-inspired students.<ref name=":02" /> According to Soviet intelligence reports on Massoud, in 1974–1975, he was trained in guerilla warfare tactics in [[Lebanon]] and [[Egypt]] where he took part in combat operations and terrorist attacks with armed [[Palestinian political violence|Palestinian resistance]] groups such as the [[Palestine Liberation Organization|PLO]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Caldwell |first=Dan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QifgYV59DK0C |title=Vortex of Conflict: U.S. Policy Toward Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq |date=February 17, 2011 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-7749-0 |language=en}}</ref>

==1975 rebellion in Panjshir==
{{main|1975 Panjshir Valley uprising}}

In 1973, former Prime Minister [[Mohammed Daoud Khan]] was brought to power in a [[1973 Afghan coup|coup d'état]] backed by the [[People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan]], and the [[Republic of Afghanistan (1973—1978)|Republic of Afghanistan]] was established. These developments gave rise to an [[Islamist]] movement opposed to the increasing [[communist]] and Soviet influence over Afghanistan.<ref name="Roy Gutman2">{{Cite book |last=Roy Gutman |title=How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan |publisher=Endowment of the United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC. |edition=1st ed., 2008 |page=34}}</ref> During that time, while studying at [[Kabul University]], Massoud became involved with the [[Muslim Youth]] (Sazman-i Jawanan-i Musulman), the student branch of the [[Jamiat-e Islami]] (Islamic Society), whose chairman then was the professor [[Burhanuddin Rabbani]]. [[Kabul University]] was a center for political debate and activism during that time.<ref name="Akbarzadeh & Yasmeen3">{{Cite book |author1=Shahram Akbarzadeh |title=Islam And the West: Reflections from Australia |author2=Samina Yasmeen |publisher=University of New South Wales Press |year=2005 |pages=81–82}}</ref>

Infuriated by the arrogance of his [[Communism|communist]] peers and [[Russians|Russian]] professors, a physical altercation between Massoud and his Russian professor led Massoud to walk out of the university, and shortly after, [[Kabul]]. Two days later, Massoud and a number of fellow militant students traveled to [[Pakistan]] where, goaded by another trainee of the [[Pakistanis|Pakistani]] [[Inter-Services Intelligence|Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)]], [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar|Gulbaddin Hekmatyar]], Massoud agreed to take part in a coup against [[Mohammed Daoud Khan|Daoud]] with his forces rising up in the [[Panjshir Province|Panjshir]] and Hekmatyar's elsewhere.<ref name="Akbarzadeh & Yasmeen3"/> In July 1975, Massoud, with help from the [[Inter-Services Intelligence|Pakistani intelligence]], led the [[1975 Panjshir Valley uprising|first rebellion]] of Panjshir residents against the government of Daoud Khan.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ansar |first1=Massoud |date=September 9, 2018 |title=Furious Kabul Residents Slam Govt Over Massoud Day Mayhem |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/furious-kabul-residents-slam-govt-over-massoud-day-mayhem |website=TOLOnews |language=en}}</ref> While the uprising in the [[Panjshir Valley|Panjshir]] saw initial success, even taking the military garrison in [[Rokha District|Rokha]], the promised support from Kabul never came and the rebellion was suppressed by [[Mohammed Daoud Khan|Daoud Khan]]'s forces sending Massoud back into [[Pakistan]] (after a day hiding in Jangalak) where he would attend a secret, [[paramilitary]] [[Inter-Services Intelligence|ISI]] training center in [[Cherat]].<ref name=":02" /> Dissatisfied, Massoud left the center and returned to [[Peshawar]] where he committed himself to personal [[Military science|military studies]]. Massoud read [[Mao Zedong|Mao Tse-tung]]'s writings on the [[Long March]], of [[Che Guevara]]'s career, the memoirs of [[Charles de Gaulle|General de Gaulle]], [[Võ Nguyên Giáp|General Võ Nguyên Giáp]], [[Sun Tzu]]'s [[The Art of War|Art of War]], and an unnamed handbook on [[counterterrorism]] by an American general which Massoud called "the most instructive of all".<ref name=":02" /><ref name="Akbarzadeh & Yasmeen3"/>

After this failure, a "profound and long-lasting schism" within the Islamist movement began to emerge.<ref name="Roy Gutman2" /> The Islamic Society split between supporters of the more moderate forces around Massoud and [[Mohammad Rabbani|Rabbani]], who led the [[Jamiat-e Islami|Jamiat-i Islami]], and more radical Islamist elements surrounding [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]], who founded the [[Hezb-i Islami]].<ref name="Akbarzadeh & Yasmeen3"/> The conflict reached such a point that [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar|Hekmatyar]] reportedly tried to kill Massoud, then 22 years old.<ref name="Grad2"/><ref name="Roy Gutman2" />

==Resistance against communism==

===Resistance against the PDPA (1978)===
{{Main|Saur Revolution}}

The government of [[Mohammed Daoud Khan]] tried to scale back the communist [[People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan]]'s influence, dismissing PDPA members from their government posts, appointing conservatives to replace them, and finally dissolved the PDPA, with the arrests of senior party members.<ref name="Neamatollah Nojumi2">{{cite book |last=Neamatollah Nojumi |title=The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region |publisher=Palgrave, New York |edition=2002 1st}}</ref><ref name="Neamatollah Nojumi (2)2">{{Cite book |last=Neamatollah Nojumi |title=The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region |publisher=Palgrave, New York |edition=2002 1st |page=39}}</ref> On April 27, 1978, the [[People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan|PDPA]] and military units loyal to it killed [[Mohammed Daoud Khan|Daoud Khan]], his immediate family, and bodyguards in a violent coup, and seized control of the capital [[Kabul]] declaring the new [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan]] ([[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|DRA]]).<ref name="Neamatollah Nojumi (3)2">{{Cite book |last=Neamatollah Nojumi |title=The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region |publisher=Palgrave, New York |edition=2002 1st |page=41}}</ref> The new communist government, led by a revolutionary council, did not enjoy the support of the masses.<ref name="Neamatollah Nojumi (4)2">{{Cite book |last=Neamatollah Nojumi |title=The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region |publisher=Palgrave, New York |edition=2002 1st |page=42}}</ref> It implemented a doctrine hostile to political dissent, whether inside or outside the party.<ref name="Neamatollah Nojumi (4)2" /> The [[People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan|PDPA]] started reforms along [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] and Soviet lines. The reforms and the PDPA's affinity to the Soviet Union were met with strong resistance by the population, especially as the government attempted to enforce its Marxist policies by arresting or executing those who resisted. Between 50,000 and 100,000 people were estimated to have been arrested and killed by communist troops in the countryside alone.<ref name="Oliver Roy2">{{Cite book |last=Oliver Roy |title=Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan |publisher=Cambridge University Press |edition=1990 |page=95}}</ref> Due to the repression, large parts of the country, especially the rural areas, organized into open revolt against the PDPA government.<ref name="Oliver Roy (2)2">{{Cite book |last=Oliver Roy |title=Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan |publisher=Cambridge University Press |edition=1990}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=October 2012}} By spring 1979, unrest had reached 24 out of 28 Afghan provinces, including major urban areas. Over half of the Afghan army either deserted or joined the insurrection.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}

With religious elders declaring a [[jihad]] against the government, in May 1979 Massoud prepared in [[Peshawar]] to oppose the new communist government in [[Panjshir Province|Panjshir]]. Along with twenty-four of his friends, Massoud took a bus to [[Bajaur District|Bajaur]] and, with arms-smuggling [[Pashtuns|Pashtun]] tribesmen, marched on foot into the [[Panjshir Valley]]. Massoud's group seized control over a number of government outposts in the [[Panjshir Valley|Valley]], entered the [[Shomali Plain]] to capture [[Gulbahar, Afghanistan|Gulbahar]], and cut off the [[Salang Tunnel|Salang Highway]], the main supply route between [[Kabul]] and the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] border raising alarm in both [[Kabul]] and [[Moscow]] which brought upon Massoud and his group a government counterattack.<ref name=":02" /><ref name="Akbarzadeh & Yasmeen3"/>

Believing that an uprising against the Soviet-backed communists would be supported by the people, Massoud, on July 6, 1979, started an insurrection in the Panjshir, which initially failed. Massoud decided to avoid conventional confrontation with the larger government forces and to wage a [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla war]].<ref name=":02" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Isby |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/warindistantcoun0000isby/page/107 |title=War in a distant country, Afghanistan: invasion and resistance |publisher=Arms and Armour Press |year=1989 |isbn=0-85368-769-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/warindistantcoun0000isby/page/107 107]}}</ref> He subsequently took full control of Panjshir, pushing out Afghan communist troops.<ref name=":02" /> Oliver Roy writes that in the following period, Massoud's "personal prestige and the efficiency of his military organization persuaded many local commanders to come and learn from him."<ref name="Oliver Roy (3)2">{{Cite book |last=Oliver Roy |title=Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan |publisher=Cambridge University Press |edition=1990 |page=132}}</ref>

===Resistance against the Soviet Union (1979–1989)===
{{Main|Soviet–Afghan War}}

[[File:Afghanistan insurgency 1985.png|thumb|Major resistance forces against the Soviets 1985; Army-green depicts locations of [[Jamiat-i Islami]]. [[Shura-e Nazar]] (Massoud's alliance) comprised many Jamiat positions but also those of other groups.]]

Following the [[1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan|1979 Soviet invasion]] and occupation of Afghanistan, Massoud devised a strategic plan for expelling the invaders and overthrowing the communist regime. The first task was to establish a popularly based resistance force that had the loyalty of the people. The second phase was "active defense" of the Panjshir stronghold, while carrying out [[asymmetric warfare]]. In the third phase, the "strategic offensive", Massoud's forces would gain control of large parts of Northern Afghanistan. The fourth phase was the "general application" of Massoud's principles to the whole country, and the defeat of the Afghan communist government.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

Massoud's [[mujahideen]] attacked the occupying Soviet forces, ambushing Soviet and Afghan communist convoys travelling through the [[Salang Pass]], and causing fuel shortages in Kabul.<ref name="Iyer">{{cite news |first2=Pico |last2=Iyer |last1=van Voorst |first1=Bruce |last3=Aftab |first3=Mohammad
|title=Afghanistan: The bear descends on the lion |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954295,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930061145/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954295,00.html |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |newspaper=Time|location=New York |date=May 7, 1984 |access-date=August 16, 2007}}</ref> The Soviets mounted a [[Panjshir offensives|series of offensives]] against the Panjshir. Between 1980 and 1985, these offensives were conducted twice a year. Despite engaging more men and hardware on each occasion, the Soviets were unable to defeat Massoud's forces. In 1982, the Soviets began deploying major combat units in the Panjshir, numbering up to 30,000 men. Massoud pulled his troops back into subsidiary valleys, where they occupied fortified positions. When the Soviet columns advanced onto these positions, they fell into ambushes. When the Soviets withdrew, Afghan army garrisons took over their positions. Massoud and his mujahideen forces attacked and recaptured them one by one.<ref>Roy, p. 199.</ref>

In 1983, the Soviets offered Massoud a temporary truce, which he accepted in order to rebuild his own forces and give the civilian population a break from Soviet attacks. He put the respite to good use. In this time he created the [[Shura-e Nazar]] (Supervisory Council), which subsequently united 130 commanders from 12 Afghan provinces in their fight against the Soviet army. This council existed outside the Peshawar parties, which were prone to internecine rivalry and bickering, and served to smooth out differences between resistance groups, due to political and ethnic divisions. It was the predecessor of what could have become a unified Islamic Afghan army.<ref>Barry, Michael (2002). ''Massoud, de l'islamisme à la liberté'', p. 216. Paris: Audibert. {{in lang|fr}} {{ISBN|2-84749-002-7}}</ref>

Relations with the party headquarters in [[Peshawar]] were often strained, as Rabbani insisted on giving Massoud no more weapons and supplies than to other Jamiat commanders, even those who did little fighting. To compensate for this deficiency, Massoud relied on revenues drawn from exports of [[emerald]]s<ref>{{cite web |author1=Bowersox, Gary |author2=Snee, Lawrence |author3=Foord, Eugene |author4=Seal, Robert |url=http://www.gems-afghan.com/articles/page26a.jpg |title=''Emeralds of the Panjshir valley, Afghanistan'' |year=1991 |publisher=www.gems-afghan.com |access-date=August 17, 2007 |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928075908/http://www.gems-afghan.com/articles/page26a.jpg }}</ref> and [[lapis lazuli]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.commission-refugies.fr/IMG/pdf/Afghanistan-les_seigneurs_de_guerre.pdf|title=Le pouvoir des seigneurs de guerre et la situation sécuritaire en Afghanistan|language=fr|publisher= commission-refugies.fr|access-date=August 16, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928075907/http://www.commission-refugies.fr/IMG/pdf/Afghanistan-les_seigneurs_de_guerre.pdf|archive-date=September 28, 2007 |url-status = live}}</ref> that are traditionally exploited in Northern Afghanistan.

Regarding infighting among different mujahideen factions, following a Soviet truce, Massoud said in an interview:{{blockquote|text=[[Hezb-i Islami Gulbuddin|Hezb-i Islami]] men are like cancer, that is why one has to treat the cancer first.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Causes of the Failure of Government of Afghanistan Under Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani|url=http://prr.hec.gov.pk/jspui/bitstream/123456789/1322/1/799S.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426094908/http://prr.hec.gov.pk/jspui/bitstream/123456789/1322/1/799S.pdf|archive-date=2021-04-26|website=gov.pk}}</ref>}}

Britain's [[MI6]] having activated long-established networks of contacts in Pakistan were able to support Massoud, and soon [[United Kingdom in the Soviet-Afghan War|became their key ally]]. MI6 sent an annual mission of two of their officers as well as military instructors to Massoud and his fighters. They also gave supplies to Massoud which included sniper rifles with silencers and mortars. As well as training Massoud's junior commanders, MI6 team's most important contribution was help with organisation and communication via radio equipment which was highly useful for Massoud to coordinate his forces and be warned of any impending Soviet attacks.<ref name="Dorril752">{{cite book |last1=Dorril |first1=Stephen |title=MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service |date=2002 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0743217781 |page=[https://archive.org/details/mi6insidecovertw00dorr/page/752 752]}}</ref> The United States provided him with comparatively less support than other factions.<ref name="phillips" /> Part of the reason was that it permitted its funding and arms distribution to be administered by Pakistan, which favored the rival mujahideen leader [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]]. In an interview, Massoud said, "We thought the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] knew everything. But they didn't. They supported some bad people [meaning Hekmatyar]."{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} Primary advocates for supporting Massoud were the US [[State Department]]'s [[Edmund McWilliams]] and [[Peter Tomsen]], who were on the ground in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Others included two [[The Heritage Foundation|Heritage Foundation]] foreign policy analysts, [[Michael Johns (policy analyst)|Michael Johns]] and James A. Phillips, both of whom championed Massoud as the Afghan resistance leader most worthy of U.S. support under the [[Reagan Doctrine]].<ref name="phillips">Phillips, James A. (May 18, 1992). {{unfit|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20150616160328/http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1992/05/winning-the-endgame-in-afghanistan "Winning the Endgame in Afghanistan"]}}, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #181.</ref><ref>Johns, Michael (January 19, 2008). [https://michaeljohnsonfreedomandprosperity.blogspot.com/2008/01/charlie-wilsons-war-was-really-americas.html "Charlie Wilson's War Was Really America's War"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708053536/http://michaeljohnsonfreedomandprosperity.blogspot.com/2008/01/charlie-wilsons-war-was-really-americas.html |date=July 8, 2011 }}.</ref> Thousands of foreign Islamic volunteers entered Afghanistan to fight with the mujahideen against the Soviet troops.

To organize support for the mujahideen, Massoud established an administrative system that enforced law and order (''nazm'') in areas under his control. The Panjshir was divided into 22 bases (''qarargah'') governed by a military commander and a civilian administrator, and each had a judge, a prosecutor and a [[public defender]].<ref>Davies, L. Will; Shariat, Abdullah (2004). ''Fighting Masoud's War'', Melbourne: Lothian, p. 200. {{ISBN|0-7344-0590-1}}</ref> Massoud's policies were implemented by different committees: an economic committee was charged with funding the war effort. The health committee provided health services, assisted by volunteers from foreign [[Humanitarian aid|humanitarian]] [[non-governmental organization]]s, such as [[Aide médicale internationale]]. An education committee was charged with the training of the military and administrative [[En cadre|cadre]]. A culture committee and a judiciary committee were also created.<ref>Barry, p. 194.</ref>

This expansion prompted [[Babrak Karmal]] to demand that the Red Army resume their offensives, in order to crush the Panjshir groups. Massoud received warning of the attack through Britain's [[GCHQ]] intelligence and he evacuated all 130,000 inhabitants from the valley into the Hindukush mountains, leaving the Soviet bombings to fall on empty ground and the Soviet battalions to face the mountains.<ref>Roy, p. 201.</ref>

With the defeat of the Soviet-Afghan attacks, Massoud carried out the next phase of his strategic plan, expanding the resistance movement and liberating the northern provinces of Afghanistan. In August 1986, he captured [[Farkhar District|Farkhar]] in [[Takhar Province]]. In November 1986, his forces overran the headquarters of the government's 20th division at Nahrin in [[Baghlan Province]], scoring an important victory for the resistance.<ref>Roy, p. 213.</ref> This expansion was also carried out through diplomatic means, as more mujahideen commanders were persuaded to adopt the Panjshir military system.

Despite almost constant attacks by the Red Army and the Afghan army, Massoud increased his military strength. Starting in 1980 with a force of less than 1,000 ill-equipped guerrillas, the Panjshir valley mujahideen grew to a 5,000-strong force by 1984.<ref name="Iyer" /> After expanding his influence outside the valley, Massoud increased his resistance forces to 13,000 fighters by 1989.<ref>Isby, p. 98.</ref> The junior commanders were trained by Britain's [[Special Air Service|SAS]] as well as private military contractors, some being sent as far as [[Oman]] and even SAS training grounds in the [[Scottish Highlands]]. These forces were divided into different types of units: the locals (mahalli) were tasked with static defense of villages and fortified positions. The best of the mahalli were formed into units called grup-i zarbati (shock troops), semi-mobile groups that acted as [[Military reserve|reserve]] forces for the defense of several strongholds. A different type of unit was the mobile group (grup-i-mutaharek), a lightly equipped [[commando]]-like formation numbering 33 men, whose mission was to carry out [[Hit-and-run tactics|hit-and-run]] attacks outside the Panjshir, sometimes as far as 100&nbsp;km from their base. These men were professional soldiers, well-paid and trained, and, from 1983 on, they provided an effective strike force against government outposts. Uniquely among the mujahideen, these groups wore uniforms, and their use of the ''[[pakul]]'' made this headwear emblematic of the Afghan resistance.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

Massoud's military organization was an effective compromise between the traditional Afghan method of warfare and the modern principles of guerrilla warfare which he had learned from the works of [[Mao Zedong]] and [[Che Guevara]]. His forces were considered the most effective of all the various Afghan resistance movements.<ref>Roy, p. 202.</ref>

The Soviet army and the Afghan communist army were mainly defeated by Massoud and his mujahideen in numerous small engagements between 1984 and 1988{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}. After describing the Soviet Union's military engagement in Afghanistan as "a bleeding wound" in 1986,<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Schmemann|first1=Serge|date=February 26, 1986|title=Gorbachev Says U.S. Arms Note Is Not Adequate |language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/26/world/gorbachev-says-us-arms-note-is-not-adequate.html|access-date=August 19, 2021|issn=0362-4331|quote=Mr. Gorbachev described Afghanistan as a ''bleeding wound,'' and he said the Soviet Union would like to withdraw its troops ''in the nearest future''.}}</ref> Soviet General Secretary [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] began a withdrawal of Soviet troops from the nation in May 1988. On February 15, 1989, in what was depicted as an improbable victory for the mujahideen, the last Soviet soldier left the nation.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Keller|first1=Bill|date=February 16, 1989|title=Last Soviet Soldiers Leave Afghanistan After 9 Years, 15,000 Dead and Great Cost|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/16/world/last-soviet-soldiers-leave-afghanistan-after-9-years-15000-dead-and-great-cost.html|access-date=August 19, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===Fall of the Afghan communist regime (1992)===
{{Main|Civil war in Afghanistan (1989–1992)}}

After the [[Soviet troop withdrawal from Afghanistan|departure of Soviet troops]] in 1989, the [[People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan]] regime, then headed by [[Mohammad Najibullah]], held its own against the mujahideen. Backed by a massive influx of weapons from the Soviet Union, the Afghan armed forces reached a level of performance they had never reached under direct Soviet tutelage. They maintained control over all of Afghanistan's major cities. During late 1990, helped by hundreds of mujahideen forces, Massoud targeted the [[Supreme Soviet of the Tajik SSR|Tajik Supreme Soviet]], trying to oust communism from the neighboring Tajikistan to further destabilize the dying Soviet Union, which would also impact the Afghan government.<ref>[[Mark Curtis (British author)|Mark Curtis]], ''Secret Affairs: Britain's Collusion with Radical Islam'', Serpent's Tail (2010), p. 194</ref> At that time, as per [[Asad Durrani]], the director-general of the ISI during this period, Massoud's base camp was in [[Garam Chashma]], in Pakistan.<ref>Asad Durrani, ''Pakistan Adrift: Navigating Troubled Waters'', Hurst (2018), p. 169</ref> By 1992, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Afghan regime eventually began to crumble. Food and fuel shortages undermined the capacities of the government's army, and a resurgence of factionalism split the regime between [[Khalq]] and [[Parcham]] supporters.<ref name="LoC">{{cite web|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+af0120)|title=The Fall of Kabul, April 1992|access-date=September 15, 2014}}</ref>

A few days after Najibullah had lost control of the nation, his army commanders and governors arranged to turn over authority to resistance commanders and local warlords throughout the country. Joint councils (''shuras'') were immediately established for local government, in which civil and military officials of the former government were usually included. In many cases, prior arrangements for transferring regional and local authority had been made between foes.<ref name="LoC" />

Collusions between military leaders quickly brought down the Kabul government. In mid-January 1992, within three weeks of the demise of the Soviet Union, Massoud was aware of conflict within the government's northern command. General [[Abdul Momim]], in charge of the [[Hairatan]] border crossing at the northern end of Kabul's supply highway, and other non-[[Pashtun people|Pashtun]] generals based in [[Mazar-i-Sharif]], feared removal by Najibullah and replacement by Pashtun officers. When the generals rebelled, [[Abdul Rashid Dostum]], who held [[General Officer|general rank]] as head of the [[Jowzjan]]i militia, also based in Mazar-i-Sharif, took over.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

He and Massoud reached a political agreement, together with another major militia leader, Sayyed Mansour, of the [[Ismaili]] community based in Baghlan Province. These northern allies consolidated their position in Mazar-i-Sharif on March 21. Their coalition covered nine provinces in the north and northeast. As turmoil developed within the government in Kabul, no government force stood between the northern allies and the major [[Bagram Air Base|air force base at Bagram]], some seventy kilometers north of Kabul. By mid-April 1992, the Afghan air force command at Bagram had capitulated to Massoud.<ref name="LoC" /> On March 18, 1992, Najibullah decided to resign. On April 17, as his government fell, he tried to escape but was stopped at [[Kabul Airport]] by Dostum's forces. He took refuge at the United Nations mission, where he remained unharmed until 1996, while Massoud controlled the area surrounding the mission.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

Senior communist generals and officials of the Najibullah administration acted as a transitional authority to transfer power to Ahmad Shah Massoud's alliance.<ref name="Library of Congress Country Studies">{{cite web|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query2/r?frd/cstdy:@field%28DOCID+af0120%29|title=The Fall of Kabul, April 1992|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref><ref name="Library of Congress Country Studies (2)">{{cite web|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query2/r?frd/cstdy:@field%28DOCID+af0121%29|title=The United Nations Plan for Political Accommodation|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref> The Kabul interim authority invited Massoud to enter Kabul as the new Head of State, but he held back.<ref name="Roy Gutman">{{Cite book|last=Roy Gutman|title=How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan|edition=1st ed., 2008 |page=34|publisher=Endowment of the United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC.}}</ref> Massoud ordered his forces, positioned to the north of Kabul, not to enter the capital until a political solution was in place.<ref name="Roy Gutman (2)">{{Cite book|last=Roy Gutman|title=How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan|edition=1st ed., 2008 |publisher=Endowment of the United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC.}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=October 2012}} He called on all the senior Afghan party leaders, many then based in exile in [[Peshawar]], to work out a political settlement acceptable to all sides and parties.<ref name="Amin Saikal">{{Cite book|last=Amin Saikal |author-link=Amin Saikal|title=Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival|date= 2004|edition=2006 1st |page=214|publisher=I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd., London & New York |isbn=1-85043-437-9}}</ref>

==War in Afghanistan (1992–2001)==

===War in Kabul and other parts of the country (1992–1996)===
{{Main|Civil war in Afghanistan (1992–1996)}}

====Peace and power-sharing agreement (1992)====
With United Nations support, most Afghan political parties decided to appoint a legitimate national government to succeed communist rule, through an elite settlement.<ref name="Amin Saikal"/><ref name="Peter Tomsen 2">{{cite book|last=Tomsen|first=Peter|title=The Wars of Afghanistan: Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflicts, and the Failures of Great Powers |url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=NCoyhgdHHyAC}} |access-date=January 22, 2014|year=2011|publisher=PublicAffairs|isbn=9781586487812}}</ref> While the external Afghan party leaders were residing in Peshawar, the military situation around Kabul involving the internal commanders was tense. A 1991 UN peace process brought about some negotiations, but the attempted elite settlement did not develop.<ref name="Peter Tomsen 2"/> In April 1992, resistance leaders in Peshawar tried to negotiate a settlement. Massoud supported the Peshawar process of establishing a broad coalition government inclusive of all resistance parties, but Hekmatyar sought to become the sole ruler of Afghanistan, stating, "In our country coalition government is impossible because, this way or another, it is going to be weak and incapable of stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan."<ref name="Amin Saikal (3)">{{cite book|last=Amin Saikal|author-link=Amin Saikal|title=Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival|date=August 27, 2004|edition=2006 1st|page=215|publisher=I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd.|isbn=1-85043-437-9}}</ref>

Massoud wrote:

<blockquote>All the parties had participated in the war, in jihad in Afghanistan, so they had to have their share in the government, and in the formation of the government. Afghanistan is made up of different nationalities. We were worried about a national conflict between different tribes and different nationalities. In order to give everybody their own rights and also to avoid bloodshed in Kabul, we left the word to the parties so they should decide about the country as a whole. We talked about it for a temporary stage and then after that the ground should be prepared for a general election.<ref name="Neamatollah Nojumi (5)">{{cite book|last=Neamatollah Nojumi|title=The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region|edition=2002 1st|page=112|publisher=Palgrave|location=New York}}</ref></blockquote>

A recorded radio communication between the two leaders showed the divide as Massoud asked Hekmatyar:<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite book|last=Marcela Grad|title=Massoud: An Intimate Portrait of the Legendary Afghan Leader|edition=March 1, 2009|publisher=Webster University Press}}</ref>

<blockquote>The Kabul regime is ready to surrender, so instead of the fighting we should gather. ... The leaders are meeting in Peshawar. ... The troops should not enter Kabul, they should enter later on as part of the government.</blockquote>

Hekmatyar's response:

<blockquote>We will march into Kabul with our naked sword. No one can stop us. ... Why should we meet the leaders?"
</blockquote>

Massoud answered:

<blockquote>"It seems to me that you don't want to join the leaders in Peshawar nor stop your threat, and you are planning to enter Kabul ... in that case I must defend the people.</blockquote>

At that point [[Osama bin Laden]], trying to mediate, urged Hekmatyar to "go back with your brothers" and to accept a compromise. Bin Laden reportedly "hated Ahmad Shah Massoud".<ref name="Faraj Ismail">{{cite book|last=Faraj Ismail in [[Peter Bergen]]'s|title=The Osama Bin Laden I know|page=93}}</ref> Bin Laden was involved in ideological and personal disputes with Massoud<ref name="Johnny Ryan">{{cite book|last=Johnny Ryan|title=Countering Militant Islamist Radicalisation on the Internet|page=133|publisher=Institute of European Affairs}}</ref> and had sided with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar against Massoud in the inner-Afghan conflict since the late 1980s.<ref name="Steve Coll (2)">{{cite book|last=[[Steve Coll]]|title=[[Ghost Wars]]|pages=202–203}}</ref> But Hekmatyar refused to accept a compromise, confident that he would be able to gain sole power in Afghanistan.<ref name="Roy Gutman_37">{{Cite book|last=Roy Gutman|title=How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan|edition=1st ed., 2008 |page=37|publisher=Endowment of the United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC.}}</ref>

On April 24, 1992, the leaders in Peshawar agreed on and signed the [[Peshawar Accord]], establishing the post-communist [[Islamic State of Afghanistan]] – which was a stillborn 'state' with a paralyzed 'government' right from its inception, until its final succumbing in September 1996.<ref name=photius,peshawar>[https://photius.com/countries/afghanistan/government/afghanistan_government_the_peshawar_accord~72.html 'The Peshawar Accord, April 25, 1992']. Website photius.com. Text from 1997, purportedly sourced on The Library of Congress Country Studies (US) and CIA World Factbook. Retrieved December 22, 2017.</ref> The creation of the Islamic State was welcomed though by the [[United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly of the United Nations]]<ref name="Max Planck Yearbook">{{cite book|title=Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law|edition=2005|page=400}}</ref> and the Islamic State of Afghanistan was recognized as the legitimate entity representing Afghanistan until June 2002, when its successor, the [[Islamic Republic of Afghanistan]], was established under the interim government of [[Hamid Karzai]].<ref name="Columbia World Dictionary">{{cite book|author1=Olivier Roy |author2=Antoine Sfeir |title=The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism|page=25|publisher=Columbia University Press}}</ref> Under the 1992 Peshawar Accord, the Defense Ministry was given to Massoud while the Prime Ministership was given to Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar refused to sign. With the exception of Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami, all of the other Peshawar resistance parties were unified under this peace and power-sharing accord in April 1992.

====Escalating war over Kabul (1992)====
Although repeatedly offered the position of prime minister, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar refused to recognize the peace and power-sharing agreement. His [[Hezb-e Islami]] militia initiated a massive bombardment campaign against the Islamic State and the capital city Kabul. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar received operational, financial and military support from neighboring [[Pakistan]].<ref name="Neamatollah Nojumi">{{cite book|last=Neamatollah Nojumi|title=The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region|edition=2002 1st|publisher=Palgrave, New York}}</ref><ref name="Amin Saikal"/> The Director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the [[Australian National University]], [[Amin Saikal]], writes in ''Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival'' that without Pakistan's support, Hekmatyar "would not have been able to target and destroy half of Kabul."<ref name="Amin Saikal"/> Saikal states that Pakistan wanted to install a favorable regime under Hekmatyar in Kabul so that it could use Afghan territory for access to [[Central Asia]].<ref name="Amin Saikal"/>

Hekmatyar's rocket bombardments and the parallel escalation of violent conflict between two militias, Ittihad and Wahdat, which had entered some suburbs of Kabul, led to a breakdown in law and order. Shia [[Iran]] and Sunni Wahabbi [[Saudi Arabia]], as competitors for regional [[hegemony]], encouraged conflict between the Ittihad and Wahdat factions. On the one side was the Shia Hazara [[Hezb-i Wahdat]] of [[Abdul Ali Mazari]] and on the other side, the Sunni Pashtun [[Ittihad-i Islami]] of [[Abdul Rasul Sayyaf]].<ref name="Human Rights Watch (4)">{{cite web|date=July 6, 2005|url=https://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2005/07/06/blood-stained-hands|title=Blood-Stained Hands, Past Atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan's Legacy of Impunity|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|access-date=December 4, 2016|archive-date=January 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113150933/http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2005/07/06/blood-stained-hands}}</ref>

According to Human Rights Watch, Iran was strongly supporting the Hezb-i Wahdat forces, with Iranian intelligence officials providing direct orders, while Saudi Arabia supported Sayyaf and his Ittihad-i Islami faction to maximize Wahhabi influence.<ref name="Human Rights Watch (4)"/> Kabul descended into lawlessness and chaos, as described in reports by Human Rights Watch and the Afghanistan Justice Project.<ref name="Human Rights Watch (4)"/><ref name="Afghanistan Justice Project">{{cite web|year=2005|url=http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/46725c962.pdf|title=Casting Shadows: War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity: 1978–2001|publisher=Afghanistan Justice Project}}</ref> Massoud's Jamiat commanders, the interim government, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) repeatedly tried to negotiate ceasefires, which broke down in only a few days.<ref name="Human Rights Watch (4)"/> Another militia, the [[Junbish-i Milli]] of former communist general [[Abdul Rashid Dostum]], was backed by [[Uzbekistan]].<ref name="Amin Saikal"/> Uzbek president [[Islam Karimov]] was keen to see Dostum controlling as much of Afghanistan as possible, especially in the north.<ref name="Amin Saikal"/> Dostum repeatedly changed allegiances.

The Afghanistan Justice Project (AJP) says, that "while [Hekmatyar's anti-government] Hizb-i Islami is frequently named as foremost among the factions responsible for the deaths and destruction in the bombardment of Kabul, it was not the only perpetrator of these violations."<ref name="Afghanistan Justice Project"/> According to the AJP, "the scale of the bombardment and kinds of weapons used represented disproportionate use of force" in a capital city with primarily residential areas by all the factions involved – including the government forces.<ref name="Afghanistan Justice Project"/> Crimes were committed by individuals within the different armed factions. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar released 10,000 dangerous criminals from the main prisons into the streets of Kabul to destabilize the city and cut off Kabul from water, food and energy supplies. The Iran-controlled Wahdat of [[Abdul Ali Mazari]], as well as the Ittihad of [[Abdul Rasul Sayyaf]] supported by Saudi Arabia, targeted civilians of the 'opposite side' in systematic atrocities. [[Abdul Rashid Dostum]] allowed crimes as a perceived payment for his troops.<ref name="Human Rights Watch (5)">{{cite web |year=1998 |url= https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports98/afghan/Afrepor0-01.htm |title= II. Background |publisher= Human Rights Watch}}</ref>

==== Afshar operation (February 1993) ====
"The major criticism of Massoud's human rights record" is the escalation of the [[Afshar Operation|Afshar military operation]] in 1993.<ref name="Roy Gutman 2"/> A report by the Afghanistan Justice Project describes Massoud as failing to prevent atrocities carried out by his forces and those of their factional ally, Ittihad-i Islami, against civilians on taking the suburb of Afshar during a [[Afshar operation|military operation]] against an anti-state militia allied to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. They shelled residential areas in the capital city in February 1993. Critics said that Massoud should have foreseen these problems.<ref name="Afghanistan Justice Project"/> A meeting convened by Massoud on the next day ordered a halt to killing and looting, but it failed to stop abuses.<ref name="Afghanistan Justice Project"/> [[Human Rights Watch]], in a report based largely on the material collected by the Afghanistan Justice Project, concurs that Massoud's Jamiat forces bear a share of the responsibility for human rights abuses throughout the war, including the indiscriminate targeting of civilians in Afshar, and that Massoud was personally implicated in some of these abuses.<ref>{{cite book |url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=O9WpdkMh-XkC |page=100 }} |title=Blood-stained Hands: Past Atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan's Legacy of ... |date=September 9, 2001 |access-date=August 13, 2014}}</ref> [[Roy Gutman]] has argued that the witness reports about Afshar cited in the AJP report implicated only the Ittihad forces, and that these had not been under Massoud's direct command.<ref name="Roy Gutman 2">Gutman, Roy (2008): ''How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan,'' Endowment of the United States Institute of Peace, 1st ed., Washington D.C., p. 222</ref>

Anthony Davis, who studied and observed Massoud's forces from 1981 to 2001, reported that during the observed period, there was "no pattern of repeated killings of enemy civilians or military prisoners" by Massoud's forces.<ref name="Roy Gutman 2"/> Edward Girardet, who covered Afghanistan for over three decades, was also in Kabul during the war. He states that while Massoud was able to control most of his commanders well during the anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban resistance, he was not able to control every commander in Kabul. According to this and similar testimonies, this was due to a breakdown of law and order in Kabul and a war on multiple fronts, which they say, Massoud personally had done all in his power to prevent:<ref name="Grad2"/>

{{blockquote|quote=Massoud was always talking to his people about not behaving badly; he told them that they were accountable to their God. But because of the rocket attacks on the city the number of troops had to be increased, so there were ten or twelve thousand troops from other sources that came in ... He [Massoud] not only did not order any [crimes], but he was deeply distressed by them. I remember once ... Massoud commented that some commanders were behaving badly, and said that he was trying to bring them to justice ...<ref name="Grad2"/>|author=Eng. Mohammad Eshaq|source=in ''Massoud'' (Webster University Press, 2009)}}

==== Further war over Kabul (March–December 1993) ====
In 1993, Massoud created the Cooperative Mohammad Ghazali Culture Foundation (''Bonyad-e Farhangi wa Ta'wani Mohammad-e Ghazali'') to further humanitarian assistance and politically independent Afghan culture.<ref name="Grad2"/> The Ghazali Foundation provided free medical services during some days of the week to residents of Kabul who were unable to pay for medical treatment.<ref name="Grad2"/> The Ghazali Foundation's department for distribution of auxiliary goods was the first partner of the Red Cross. The Ghazali Foundation's department of family consultation was a free advisory board, which was accessible seven days a week for the indigent. Although Massoud was responsible for the financing of the foundation, he did not interfere with its cultural work. A council led the foundation and a jury, consisting of impartial university lecturers, decided on the works of artists. The Ghazali foundation enabled Afghan artists to exhibit their works at different places in Kabul, and numerous artists and authors were honoured for their works; some of them neither proponents of Massoud nor the Islamic State government.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}}

In March 1993, Massoud resigned his government position in exchange for peace, as requested by Hekmatyar, who considered him as a personal rival.<ref name="Grad2"/><ref name="Amin Saikal (3)"/><ref name=autogenerated3>{{cite web|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query2/r?frd/cstdy:@field%28DOCID+af0126%29|title=The Islamabad and Jalalabad Accords, March–April 1993|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref> According to the [[Islamabad Accord]], [[Burhanuddin Rabbani]], belonging to the same party as Massoud, remained president, while Gulbuddin Hekmatyar took the long-offered position of prime minister. Two days after the Islamabad Accord went into effect, his allies in [[Hezb-e Wahdat]] renewed rocket attacks in Kabul.<ref name="Library of Congress Country Studies"/>

Both the Wahhabi Pashtun [[Ittehad-i Islami]] of [[Abdul Rasul Sayyaf]] backed by Saudi Arabia and the Shia Hazara Hezb-e Wahdat supported by Iran remained involved in heavy fighting against each other.<ref name="Library of Congress Country Studies"/> Hekmatyar was afraid to enter Kabul proper, and chaired only one cabinet meeting. The author [[Roy Gutman]] of the [[United States Institute of Peace]] wrote in ''How We Missed the Story: Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, and the Hijacking of Afghanistan'':

<blockquote>Hekmatyar had become prime minister ... But after chairing one cabinet meeting, Hekmatyar never returned to the capital, fearing, perhaps, a [[lynching]] by Kabulis infuriated over his role in destroying their city. Even his close aides were embarrassed. Hekmatyar spokesman Qutbuddin Helal was still setting up shop in the prime minister's palace when the city came under Hezb[-i Islami] rocket fire late that month. "We are here in Kabul and he is rocketing us. Now we have to leave. We can't do anything," he told Massoud aides.<ref name=autogenerated6>{{Cite book|last=Roy Gutman|title=How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan|edition=1st ed., 2008 |page=58|publisher=Endowment of the United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC.}}</ref></blockquote>

Hekmatyar, who was generally opposed to coalition government and struggled for undisputed power, had conflicts with other parties over the selection of cabinet members. His forces started major attacks against Kabul for one month.<ref name="Library of Congress Country Studies"/><ref name="Amin Saikal (3)"/> The President, [[Burhanuddin Rabbani]], was attacked when he attempted to meet Hekmatyar.<ref name="Library of Congress Country Studies"/> Massoud resumed his responsibilities as minister of defense.

In May 1993, a new effort was made to reinstate the Islamabad Accord.<ref name="Library of Congress Country Studies"/> In August, Massoud reached out to Hekmatyar in an attempt to broaden the government.<ref name="Library of Congress Country Studies"/><ref name="Amin Saikal (2)">{{cite book|last=Amin Saikal|author-link=Amin Saikal|title=Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival|date=August 27, 2004|edition=2006 1st|page=216|publisher=I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd., London & New York|isbn=1-85043-437-9}}</ref> By the end of 1993, Hekmatyar and the former communist general and militia leader, [[Abdul Rashid Dostum]], were involved in secret negotiations encouraged by Pakistan's secret [[Inter-Services Intelligence]], Iran's intelligence service, and Uzbekistan's [[Islam Karimov|Karimov]] administration.<ref name="Amin Saikal (2)"/><ref name=autogenerated5>{{Cite book|last=Roy Gutman|title=How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan|edition=1st ed., 2008|page=59|publisher=Endowment of the United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC.}}</ref> They planned a coup to oust the Rabbani administration and to attack Massoud in his northern areas.<ref name="Library of Congress Country Studies"/><ref name="Roy Gutman (2)"/>

==== War in Kabul, Taliban arise in the south (1994) ====
In January 1994, Hekmatyar and Dostum mounted a bombardment campaign against the capital and attacked Massoud's core areas in the northeast.<ref name="Library of Congress Country Studies"/><ref name="Roy Gutman (2)"/> [[Amin Saikal]] writes, Hekmatyar had the following objectives in all his operations:

<blockquote>The first was to make sure that Rabbani and Massoud were not allowed to consolidate power, build a credible administration, or expand their territorial control, so that the country would remain divided into small fiefdoms, run by various Muajhideen leaders and local warlords or a council of such elements, with only some of them allied to Kabul. The second was to ensure the Rabbani government acquired no capacity to dispense patronage, and to dissuade the Kabul population from giving more than limited support to the government. The third was to make Kabul an unsafe city for representatives of the international community and to prevent the Rabbani government from attracting the international support needed to begin the post-war reconstruction of Afghanistan and generate a level of economic activity which would enhance its credibility and popularity.<ref name=autogenerated7>{{cite book|last=Amin Saikal|author-link=Amin Saikal|title=Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival|date=August 27, 2004|edition=2006 1st|pages=216–217|publisher=I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd., London & New York|isbn=1-85043-437-9}}</ref></blockquote>

By mid-1994, Hekmatyar and Dostum were on the defensive in Kabul against Islamic State forces led by Massoud. <br />Southern Afghanistan had been neither under the control of foreign-backed militias nor of the government in Kabul, but was ruled by local Pashtun leaders, such as [[Gul Agha Sherzai]], and their militias. In 1994, the [[Taliban]] (a movement originating from [[Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam]]-run religious schools for Afghan refugees in Pakistan) also developed in Afghanistan as a politico-religious force, reportedly in opposition to the [[tyranny]] of the local governor.<ref name="Matinuddin, Kamal 1999 pp.25">Matinuddin, Kamal, ''The Taliban Phenomenon, Afghanistan 1994–1997'', [[Oxford University Press]], (1999), pp. 25–26</ref> When the Taliban took control of Kandahar in 1994, they forced the surrender of dozens of local Pashtun leaders who had presided over a situation of complete lawlessness and atrocities.<ref name="Human Rights Watch (5)"/> In 1994, the Taliban took power in several provinces in southern and central Afghanistan.

====Taliban siege of Kabul (1995–1996)====
Hizb-i Islami had bombarded Kabul from January 1994 until February 1995 when the [[Taliban]] expelled Hizb from its Charasiab headquarters, after which the Taliban relaunched the bombardment of Kabul and started to besiege the town.<ref>[http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/46725c962.pdf 'Casting Shadows: War crimes and Crimes against Humanity: 1978–2001'.] Afghanistan Justice Project. 2005. o. 71.</ref>

By early 1995, Massoud initiated a nationwide [[political process]] with the goal of national [[Democratic consolidation|consolidation]] and [[democratic election]]s.{{Clarify|reason=What is the relevance of the "three parts"? Who ("personalities") appeared in that conference (summoned by Massoud)? What 'agreement' was endeavoured? When and where was the conference? What did the "nationwide proces" consist of except that conference? What is meant with "national [[Democratic consolidation|(democratic) consolidation]]" in a country totally ripped up by a multisided war? |date=June 2018}}{{Better source needed|reason=M.Grad is a dubious, possibly unreliable source – see [[Talk:Ahmad Shah Massoud]]|date=June 2018}}<ref name="Grad2"/> He arranged a conference in three parts uniting political and cultural personalities, governors, commanders, clergymen and representatives, in order to reach a lasting agreement.{{Clarify|reason=What is the relevance of the "three parts"? Who ("personalities") appeared in that conference (summoned by Massoud)? What 'agreement' was endeavoured? When and where was the conference? What did the "nationwide proces" consist of except that conference? What is meant with "national (democratic) consolidation" in a country totally ripped up by a multisided war? |date=June 2018}}{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}{{Better source needed|reason=M.Grad is a dubious, possibly unreliable source – see [[Talk:Ahmad Shah Massoud]]|date=June 2018}} Massoud's favourite for candidacy to the presidency was Dr. [[Mohammad Yusuf (prime minister)|Mohammad Yusuf]], the first democratic prime minister under [[Zahir Shah]], the former king. In the first meeting representatives from 15 different Afghan provinces met, in the second meeting there were already 25 provinces participating.

Massoud also invited the [[Taliban]] to join the peace process wanting them to be a partner in providing stability to Afghanistan during such a process.<ref name="Grad2"/> But the Taliban, which had emerged over the course of 1994 in southern Afghanistan, were already at the doors of the capital city. Against the advice of his security personnel, Massoud went to talk to some Taliban leaders in Maidan Shar, Taliban territory. The Taliban declined to join the peace process leading toward general elections. When Massoud returned to Kabul unharmed, the Taliban leader who had received him as his guest paid with his life: he was killed by other senior Taliban for failing to assassinate Massoud while the possibility had presented itself.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}} The [[Taliban]], placing Kabul under a two-year siege and bombardment campaign from early 1995 onward, in later years committed [[massacres]] against civilians, compared by [[United Nations]] observers to those that happened during the [[War in Bosnia]].<ref name="Newsday 2001">{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2001/10/12/taliban-massacres-outlined-for-un/|title=Taliban massacres outlined for UN|author=Newsday|date=October 2001|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|access-date=January 21, 2011}}</ref><ref name="papillonsartpalace.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/massacre.htm |title=Confidential UN report details mass killings of civilian villagers |access-date=October 12, 2001 |author=Newsday |year=2001 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040605195902/http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/massacre.htm |archive-date=June 5, 2004 }}</ref>

Neighboring Pakistan exerted strong influence over the Taliban. A publication with the George Washington University describes: "Initially, the Pakistanis supported ... Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ... When Hekmatyar failed to deliver for Pakistan, the administration began to support a new movement of religious students known as the Taliban."<ref name="The National Security Archive">{{cite web|year=2003|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB97/|title=The September 11th Sourcebooks Volume VII: The Taliban File|publisher=gwu.edu}}</ref> Many analysts like [[Amin Saikal]] describe the Taliban as developing into a [[proxy war|proxy]] force for Pakistan's regional interests.<ref name="Amin Saikal"/> The Taliban started shelling Kabul in early 1995 but were defeated by forces of the Islamic State government under Ahmad Shah Massoud.<ref name="amnesty.org">{{cite web |publisher=Amnesty International |title=Afghanistan: Further Information on Fear for Safety and New Concern: Deliberate and Arbitrary Killings: Civilians in Kabul |date=November 16, 1995 |url=https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/176000/asa110151995en.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/176000/asa110151995en.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Amnesty International]], referring to the Taliban offensive, wrote in a 1995 report:

{{blockquote|This is the first time in several months that Kabul civilians have become the targets of rocket attacks and shelling aimed at residential areas in the city.<ref name="amnesty.org"/>|[[Amnesty International]]|1995}}

The Taliban's early victories in 1994 were followed by a series of defeats that resulted in heavy losses.<ref name="Human Rights Watch (5)"/> The Taliban's first major offensive against the important western city of [[Herat]], under the rule of Islamic state ally [[Ismail Khan]], in February 1995 was defeated when Massoud airlifted 2,000 of his own core forces from Kabul to help defend Herat.<ref name="Ahmed Rashid">{{cite book|last=Ahmed Rashid|author-link=Ahmed Rashid|title=Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia|year=2001|page=[https://archive.org/details/talibanmilitant000rash/page/36 36]|publisher=Yale Nota Bene Books|isbn=978-0300089028|url=https://archive.org/details/talibanmilitant000rash/page/36}}</ref> [[Ahmed Rashid]] writes: "The Taliban had now been decisively pushed back on two fronts by the government and their political and military leadership was in disarray. Their image as potential peacemakers was badly dented, for in the eyes of many Afghans they had become nothing more than just another warlord party."<ref name="Ahmed Rashid"/> International observers already speculated that the Taliban as a country-wide organization might have "run its course".<ref name="Human Rights Watch">{{cite news|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/afghan2/Afghan0701-02.htm|title=Pakistan's Support of the Taliban |publisher=Human Rights Watch|year=2000}}</ref>

[[Mullah Omar]] consolidated his control of the Taliban and with foreign help rebuilt and re-equipped his forces.<ref name="Ahmed Rashid (3)">{{cite book|last=Ahmed Rashid|author-link=Ahmed Rashid|title=Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia|year=2001|page=[https://archive.org/details/talibanmilitant000rash/page/39 39]|publisher=Yale Nota Bene Books|isbn=978-0300089028|url=https://archive.org/details/talibanmilitant000rash/page/39}}</ref> [[Pakistan]] increased its support to the Taliban.<ref name="Amin Saikal"/><ref name="George Washington University">{{cite web|year=2007|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB227/index.htm#17|title=Documents Detail Years of Pakistani Support for Taliban, Extremists|publisher=[[George Washington University]]}}</ref> Its military advisers oversaw the restructuring of Taliban forces. The country provided armored pick-up trucks and other military equipment.<ref name="Human Rights Watch"/> Saudi Arabia provided the funding.<ref name="Ahmed Rashid (7)">{{cite book|last=Ahmed Rashid|author-link=Ahmed Rashid|title=Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia|year=2001|publisher=Yale Nota Bene Books|isbn=978-0300089028|url=https://archive.org/details/talibanmilitant000rash}}</ref> Furthermore, there was a massive influx of 25,000 new Taliban fighters, many of them recruited in Pakistan.<ref name="Ahmed Rashid (3)"/> This enabled the Taliban to capture Herat to the west of Kabul in a surprise attack against the forces of Ismail Khan in September 1995. A nearly one-year siege and bombardment campaign against Kabul was again defeated by Massoud's forces.<ref name="Ahmed Rashid (7)"/>

Massoud and Rabbani meanwhile kept working on an internal Afghan peace process – successfully. By February 1996, all of Afghanistan's armed factions – except for the Taliban – had agreed to take part in the peace process and to set up a peace council to elect a new interim president.<ref name="Ahmed Rashid (5)">{{cite book|last=Ahmed Rashid|author-link=Ahmed Rashid|title=Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia|year=2001|page=[https://archive.org/details/talibanmilitant000rash/page/43 43]|publisher=Yale Nota Bene Books|isbn=978-0300089028|url=https://archive.org/details/talibanmilitant000rash/page/43}}</ref> Many Pashtun areas under Taliban control had representatives also advocating for a peace agreement with the Islamic State government.<ref name="Ahmed Rashid (2)">{{cite book|last=Ahmed Rashid|author-link=Ahmed Rashid|title=Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia|year=2001|page=[https://archive.org/details/talibanmilitant000rash/page/41 41]|publisher=Yale Nota Bene Books|isbn=978-0300089028|url=https://archive.org/details/talibanmilitant000rash/page/41}}</ref> But Taliban leader Mullah Omar and the Kandaharis surrounding him wanted to expand the war.<ref name="Ahmed Rashid (2)" /> At that point the Taliban leadership and their foreign supporters decided they needed to act quickly before the government could consolidate the new understanding between the parties. The Taliban moved against Jalalabad, under the control of the Pashtun Jalalabad Shura, to the east of Kabul. Part of the Jalalabad Shura was bribed with millions of dollars by the Taliban's foreign sponsors, especially Saudi Arabia, to vacate their positions.<ref name="Ahmed Rashid (4)">{{cite book|last=Ahmed Rashid|author-link=Ahmed Rashid|title=Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia|year=2001|page=[https://archive.org/details/talibanmilitant000rash/page/48 48]|publisher=Yale Nota Bene Books|isbn=978-0300089028|url=https://archive.org/details/talibanmilitant000rash/page/48}}</ref> The Taliban's battle for Jalalabad was directed by Pakistani military advisers. Hundreds of Taliban crossed the Afghan-Pakistani border moving on Jalalabad from Pakistan and thereby suddenly placed to the east of Kabul.<ref name="Ahmed Rashid (4)" /> This left the capital city Kabul "wide open"<ref name="Ahmed Rashid (4)" /> to many sides as Ismail Khan had been defeated to the west, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar had vacated his positions to the south and the fall and surrender of Jalalabad had suddenly opened a new front to the east.

{{anchor|Withdrawal north from Kabul}}
At that point Massoud decided to conduct a strategic retreat through a northern corridor, according to Ahmed Rashid, "knowing he could not defend [Kabul] from attacks coming from all four points of the compass. Nor did he want to lose the support of Kabul's population by fighting for the city and causing more bloodshed."<ref name="Ahmed Rashid (4)" /> On September 26, 1996, as the Taliban with military support by Pakistan and financial support by Saudi Arabia prepared for another major offensive, Massoud ordered a full retreat from Kabul.<ref>Coll, ''Ghost Wars'' (New York: Penguin, 2005), 14.</ref> The Taliban marched into Kabul on September 27, 1996, and established the [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan]]. Massoud and his troops retreated to the northeast of Afghanistan which became the base for the still internationally recognized Islamic State of Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite news|author=Barry Bearak |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/03/world/as-the-taliban-finish-off-foes-iran-is-looming.html |title=As the Taliban Finish Off Foes, Iran Is Looming |location=Tajikistan; Iran; Afghanistan |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 3, 1998 |access-date=July 17, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Barry Bearak |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/09/world/afghan-lion-fights-taliban-with-rifle-and-fax-machine.html |title=Afghan 'Lion' Fights Taliban With Rifle and Fax Machine |location=Afghanistan |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 9, 1999 |access-date=July 17, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=John F. Burns |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/08/world/afghan-driven-from-kabul-makes-stand-in-north.html |title=Afghan Driven From Kabul Makes Stand in North |location=Gulbahar (Afghanistan); Afghanistan |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 8, 1996 |access-date=July 17, 2014}}</ref>

===Resistance against the Taliban (1996–2001)===
{{Main|Civil war in Afghanistan (1996–2001)}}

[[File:1996afghan (1).png|thumb|Map of the situation in Afghanistan in late 1996; Massoud (red), [[Abdul Rashid Dostum|Dostum]] (green), [[Taliban]] (yellow)]]

====United Front against the Taliban====
Ahmad Shah Massoud created the [[United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan|United Front]] (Northern Alliance) against the Taliban advance. The United Front included forces and leaders from different political backgrounds as well as from all ethnicities of Afghanistan. From the Taliban conquest in 1996 until November 2001, the United Front controlled territory in which roughly 30% of Afghanistan's population was living, in provinces such as [[Badakhshan Province|Badakhshan]], [[Kapisa Province|Kapisa]], [[Takhar Province|Takhar]] and parts of [[Parwan Province|Parwan]], [[Kunar Province|Kunar]], [[Nuristan Province|Nuristan]], [[Laghman Province|Laghman]], [[Samangan Province|Samangan]], [[Kunduz Province|Kunduz]], [[Ghōr Province|Ghōr]] and [[Bamyan Province|Bamyan]].

Meanwhile, the Taliban imposed their repressive regime in the parts of Afghanistan under their control.<ref name="Physicians for Human Rights">{{cite web|year=1998|url=http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/documents/reports/talibans-war-on-women.pdf|title=The Taliban's War on Women. A Health and Human Rights Crisis in Afghanistan|publisher=[[Physicians for Human Rights]]|access-date=August 25, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070702234326/http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/documents/reports/talibans-war-on-women.pdf|archive-date=July 2, 2007}}</ref> Hundreds of thousands of people fled to Northern Alliance territory, Pakistan and Iran.<ref name="NPR">{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/aug/afghanistan/|work=[[NPR.org]]|title=Re-Creating Afghanistan: Returning to Istalif|date=August 1, 2002|access-date=April 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023072254/http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/aug/afghanistan/|archive-date=October 23, 2013}}</ref> Massoud's soldiers held some 1,200 Taliban prisoners in the Panjshir Valley, 122 of them foreign Muslims who had come to Afghanistan to fight a jihad.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20010117wednesday.html|title=Holy Warriors: Killing for the Glory of God, in a Land Far From Home|date=January 17, 2001 |last=Miller|first=Judith|work=The New York Times |access-date=April 21, 2014}}</ref> In 1998, after the defeat of Abdul Rashid Dostum's faction in Mazar-i-Sharif, Ahmad Shah Massoud remained the only main leader of the United Front in Afghanistan and the only leader who was able to defend vast parts of his area against the Taliban. Most major leaders including the Islamic State's President [[Burhanuddin Rabbani]], [[Abdul Rashid Dostum]], and others, were living in exile. During this time, commentators remarked that "The only thing standing in the way of future Taliban massacres is Ahmad Shah Massoud."<ref name="National Geographic">{{cite web|year=2007|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpQI6HKV-ZY| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/xpQI6HKV-ZY| archive-date=November 17, 2021 | url-status=live|title=Inside the Taliban|publisher=[[National Geographic Channel|National Geographic]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|year=2007 |url=http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/inside-the-taliban-3274/Overview |title=Inside the Taliban |publisher=[[National Geographic Channel|National Geographic]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813110219/http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/inside-the-taliban-3274/Overview |archive-date=August 13, 2011 }}</ref>

[[File:Guerre en Afghanistan (octobre 2001).PNG|thumb|left|Map of the situation in Afghanistan August 2001&nbsp;– October 2001]]

Massoud stated that the Taliban repeatedly offered him a position of power to make him stop his resistance. He declined, declaring the differences between their ideology and his own pro-democratic outlook on society to be insurmountable.<ref name="Interview"/>

Massoud wanted to convince the Taliban to join a political process leading toward democratic elections in a foreseeable future.<ref name="Interview">{{cite web|year=2001 |url=http://www.orient.uw.edu.pl/balcerowicz/texts/Ahmad_Shah_Masood_en.htm|title=The Last Interview with Ahmad Shah Massoud|publisher=Piotr Balcerowicz|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925043421/http://www.orient.uw.edu.pl/balcerowicz/texts/Ahmad_Shah_Masood_en.htm|archive-date=September 25, 2006}}</ref> He also predicted that without assistance from Pakistan and external extremist groups, the Taliban would lose their hold on power.<ref name="St. Petersburg Times">{{cite web|year=2002|url=http://www.sptimes.com/2002/09/09/911/The_man_who_would_hav.shtml|title=The man who would have led Afghanistan|work=[[St. Petersburg Times]]}}</ref>

In early 2001, the United Front employed a new strategy of local military pressure and global political appeals.<ref name="Steve Coll: Ghost Wars">{{cite book|last=Steve Coll|author-link=Steve Coll|title=Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001|edition=February 23, 2004|page=720|publisher=Penguin Press HC}}</ref> Resentment was increasingly gathering against Taliban rule from the bottom of Afghan society including the Pashtun areas.<ref name="Steve Coll: Ghost Wars" /> At the same time, Massoud was very wary not to revive the failed Kabul government of the early 1990s.<ref name="Steve Coll: Ghost Wars" /> Already in 1999 the United Front leadership ordered the training of police forces specifically to keep order and protect the civilian population in case the United Front would be successful.<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite book|last=Marcela Grad|title=Massoud: An Intimate Portrait of the Legendary Afghan Leader|publisher=Webster University Press|edition=March 1, 2009|page=310|author-link=}}</ref>

====Cross-factional negotiations====
[[File:Ahmad Shah Massoud EP 2001 (3).jpg|thumb|Massoud with President of the European Parliament [[Nicole Fontaine]] in April 2001]]

From 1999 onward, a renewed process was set into motion by the Tajik Ahmad Shah Massoud and the Pashtun [[Abdul Haq (Afghan leader)|Abdul Haq]] to unite all the ethnicities of Afghanistan. Massoud united the Tajiks, Hazara and Uzbeks as well as several Pashtun commanders under his United Front. Besides meeting with Pashtun tribal leaders and acting as a point of reference, Abdul Haq received increasing numbers of Pashtun Taliban themselves who were secretly approaching him.<ref name=PeterTomsen>{{cite book|last=Tomsen|first=Peter|title=Wars of Afghanistan|year=2011|publisher=PublicAffairs|isbn=978-1586487638|page=565}}</ref> Some commanders who had worked for the Taliban military apparatus agreed to the plan to topple the Taliban regime<ref name="Edwards">{{cite web|url=http://lucymorganedwards.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715060706/http://lucymorganedwards.com/|archive-date=July 15, 2012|title=The Afghan Solution|publisher=Lucy Morgan Edwards|quote=The central theme of the book is Edward's investigation into a major Afghan-led plan for toppling the Taliban: a plan which existed for two years prior to 9/11, and which had buy-in from senior tribal leaders, commanders within the military axis of the Taliban, possibly the Haqqani network, Commander Massoud and senior Taliban who were willing to bring about a new order. The ex-King was to provide the 'glue' around which these different groups would coalesce.}}</ref> as the Taliban lost support even among the Pashtuns. Senior diplomat and Afghanistan expert [[Peter Tomsen]] wrote that ''"[t]he 'Lion of Kabul' [Abdul Haq] and the 'Lion of Panjshir' [Ahmad Shah Massoud] would make a formidable anti-Taliban team if they combined forces. Haq, Massoud, and Karzai, Afghanistan's three leading moderates, could transcend the Pashtun – non-Pashtun, north-south divide."''<ref name=PeterTomsen2>{{Cite book|last=Tomsen|first=Peter|title=Wars of Afghanistan|year=2011|publisher=PublicAffairs|isbn=978-1586487638|page=566}}</ref> [[Steve Coll]] referred to this plan as a "grand Pashtun-Tajik alliance".<ref name=autogenerated10>{{cite book|last=Steve Coll|author-link=Steve Coll|title=Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001|edition=February 23, 2004|page=558|publisher=Penguin Press HC}}</ref> The senior Hazara and Uzbek leaders took part in the process just like later Afghan president [[Hamid Karzai]]. They agreed to work under the banner of the exiled Afghan king [[Zahir Shah]] in Rome.

In November 2000, leaders from all ethnic groups were brought together in Massoud's headquarters in northern Afghanistan, travelling from other parts of Afghanistan, Europe, the United States, Pakistan and India to discuss a [[Loya Jirga]] for a settlement of Afghanistan's problems and to discuss the establishment of a post-Taliban government.<ref name="Corbis">{{cite web|year=2001|url=http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/AAEC001272/council-of-afghan-opposition?popup=1|title=Council of Afghan opposition|publisher=Corbis}}</ref><ref name="Grad_65">{{cite book|last=Marcela Grad|title=Massoud: An Intimate Portrait of the Legendary Afghan Leader|edition=March 1, 2009|page=65|publisher=Webster University Press}}</ref> In September 2001, an international official who met with representatives of the alliance remarked, ''"It's crazy that you have this today ... Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazara ... They were all ready to buy in to the process".''<ref name="The New Statesman">{{cite magazine|year=2011|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2011/11/haq-afghanistan-taliban-kabul|title=The lost lion of Kabul|magazine=The New Statesman}}</ref>

In early 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud with leaders from all ethnicities of Afghanistan addressed the [[European Parliament]] in [[Brussels]], asking the international community to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan.<ref name="EU Parliament (2)">{{cite web|year=2001|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1iCsEnXdIw| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606113827/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1iCsEnXdIw| archive-date=June 6, 2010 |title=Massoud in the European Parliament 2001|publisher=EU media}}</ref> He stated that the Taliban and [[al-Qaeda]] had introduced "a very wrong perception of [[Islam]]" and that without the support of Pakistan and Bin Laden the Taliban would not be able to sustain their military campaign for up to a year.<ref name="EU Parliament"/> On that visit to Europe, he also warned the U.S. about Bin Laden.<ref name="nineeleven">{{cite news|last=Boettcher|first=Mike|url=https://www.cnn.com/2003/US/11/06/massoud.cable/index.html|title=How much did Afghan leader know?|publisher=CNN.com|date=November 6, 2003|access-date=June 11, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100916032857/http://articles.cnn.com/2003-11-06/us/massoud.cable_1_bin-qaeda-sheikh-osama?_s=PM:US|archive-date=September 16, 2010}}</ref>

====The areas of Massoud====
Life in the areas under direct control of Massoud was different from the life in the areas under Taliban or Dostum's control. In contrast to the time of chaos in which all structures had collapsed in Kabul, Massoud was able to control most of the troops under his direct command well during the period starting in late 1996.<ref name="Girardet">{{cite book|last=Edward Girardet in |title=Massoud. An Intimate Portrait of the Legendary Afghan Leader|edition=2009 1st |pages=167–187|publisher=Webster University Press}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=October 2012}} Massoud always controlled the [[Panjshir Province|Panjshir]], [[Takhar Province|Takhar]], parts of [[Parwan]] and [[Badakhshan]] during the war. Some other provinces (notably [[Kunduz]], [[Baghlan]], [[Nuristan]] and the north of [[Kabul]]) were captured by his forces from the Taliban and lost again from time to time as the frontlines varied.

Massoud created democratic institutions which were structured into several committees: political, health, education and economic.<ref name="Grad2"/> Still, many people came to him personally when they had a dispute or problem and asked him to solve their problems.<ref name="Grad2"/>

In September 2000, Massoud signed the Declaration of the Essential Rights of Afghan Women drafted by Afghan women. The declaration established gender equality in front of the law and the right of women to political participation, education, work, freedom of movement and speech. In the areas of Massoud, women and girls did not have to wear the Afghan burqa by law. They were allowed to work and to go to school. Although it was a time of war, girls' schools were operating in some districts. In at least two known instances, Massoud personally intervened against cases of forced marriage in favour of the women to make their own choice.<ref name="Grad2"/>

While it was Massoud's stated personal conviction that men and women are equal and should enjoy the same rights, he also had to deal with Afghan traditions which he said would need a generation or more to overcome. In his opinion, that could only be achieved through education.<ref name="Grad2"/> Author [[Pepe Escobar]] wrote in ''[[Asia Times]]'':<ref name="Escobar2001">{{Cite web |url=https://asiatimes.com/2001/09/masoud-from-warrior-to-statesman/
|title=Masoud: From warrior to statesman
|last= Escobar|first=Pepe  |work=Asia Times
|quote=The most striking contrast between Masoud's Islam and the Taliban's ultra-hardcore version regards the situation of women. For Masoud, on paper, women could even compete in free elections. He asked a recent visitor for a copy of the Swiss constitution: for him, this is a typical example of democracy that could work in Afghanistan, with different ethnic groups and different languages.
|date=September 12, 2001 |access-date=February 21, 2022}}</ref>
{{blockquote|Massoud is adamant that in Afghanistan women have suffered oppression for generations. He says that "the cultural environment of the country suffocates women. But the Taliban exacerbate this with oppression." His most ambitious project is to shatter this cultural prejudice and so give more space, freedom and equality to women – they would have the same rights as men.<ref name="Grad2"/>|Pepe Escobar|in 'Massoud: From Warrior to Statesman'}}

Humayun Tandar, who took part as an Afghan diplomat in the 2001 [[International Conference on Afghanistan]] in Bonn, said that "strictures of language, ethnicity, region were [also] stifling for Massoud. That is why ... he wanted to create a unity which could surpass the situation in which we found ourselves and still find ourselves to this day."<ref name="Grad2"/> This applied also to strictures of religion. Jean-José Puig describes how Massoud often led prayers before a meal or at times asked his fellow Muslims to lead the prayer but also did not hesitate to ask the Jewish [[Princeton University|Princeton]] Professor Michael Barry or his Christian friend Jean-José Puig: "Jean-José, we believe in the same God. Please, tell us the prayer before lunch or dinner in your own language."<ref name="Grad2"/>

====International relations====

U.S. policy regarding Massoud, the Taliban and Afghanistan remained ambiguous and differed between the various U.S. government agencies.

In 1997, U.S. State Department's [[Robin Raphel]] suggested to Massoud he should surrender to the Taliban. He soundly rejected the proposal.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Secrets tumble out of Afghan war closet|url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/secrets-tumble-out-of-afghan-war-closet/2281567|access-date=August 19, 2021|website=www.aa.com.tr}}</ref>

At one point in the war, in 1997, two top foreign policy officials in the Clinton administration flew to northern Afghanistan in an attempt to convince Massoud not to take advantage of a strategic opportunity to make crucial gains against the Taliban.<ref name="U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher">{{cite web |year=2004 |url=http://rohrabacher.house.gov/911-represented-dramatic-failure-policy-and-people |title=9/11 Represented a Dramatic Failure of Policy and People |publisher=U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher |access-date=March 6, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130306015402/http://rohrabacher.house.gov/911-represented-dramatic-failure-policy-and-people |archive-date=March 6, 2013 }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=October 2012}}

In 1998, a U.S. [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] analyst, Julie Sirrs, visited Massoud's territories privately, having previously been denied official permission to do so by her agency. She reported that Massoud had conveyed warnings about strengthened ties between the Taliban and foreign Islamist terrorists. Returning home, she was sacked from her agency for insubordination, because at that time the U.S. administration had no trust in Massoud.<ref name="U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher"/>

In the meantime, the only collaboration between Massoud and another U.S. intelligence service, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), consisted of an effort to trace [[Osama bin Laden]] following the [[1998 United States embassy bombings|1998 embassy bombings]].<ref name="risen">Risen, James. ''State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration'', 2006</ref> The U.S. and the European Union provided no support to Massoud for the fight against the Taliban.

A change of policy, lobbied for by CIA officers on the ground who had visited the area of Massoud, regarding support to Massoud, was underway in the course of 2001. According to Steve Coll's book ''Ghost Wars''<ref name="Steve Coll: Ghost Wars" /> (who won the 2005 [[Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction]]):

{{blockquote|The CIA officers admired Massoud greatly. They saw him as a [[Che Guevara]] figure, a great actor on history's stage. Massoud was a poet, a military genius, a religious man, and a leader of enormous courage who defied death and accepted its inevitability, they thought. ... In his house there were thousands of books: Persian poetry, histories of the Afghan war in multiple languages, biographies of other military and guerilla leaders. In their meetings Massoud wove sophisticated, measured references to Afghan history and global politics into his arguments. He was quiet, forceful, reserved, and full of dignity, but also light in spirit. The CIA team had gone into the Panshjir as unabashed admirers of Massoud. Now their convictions deepened.<ref name="Steve Coll: Ghost Wars"/> |[[Steve Coll]]|in ''Ghost Wars''}}

U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher also recalled:

<blockquote>[B]etween Bush's inauguration and 9/11, I met with the new national security staff on 3 occasions, including one meeting with Condoleezza Rice to discuss Afghanistan. There were, in fact, signs noted in an overview story in The Washington Post about a month ago that some steps were being made to break away from the previous administration's Afghan policy.<ref name="U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher"/></blockquote>

CIA lawyers, working with officers in the Near East Division and Counterterrorist Center, began to draft a formal, legal presidential finding for Bush's signature authorizing a new covert action program in Afghanistan, the first in a decade that sought to influence the course of the Afghan war in favour of Massoud.<ref name="Steve Coll: Ghost Wars"/> This change in policy was finalized in August 2001 when it was too late.

After Pakistan had funded, directed and supported the Taliban's rise to power in Afghanistan, Massoud and the United Front received some assistance from India.<ref>Peter Pigott: {{Google books |id=XaQPHbHb_fkC |page=54 |title=Canada in Afghanistan }}</ref> The assistance provided by India was extensive, including uniforms, ordnance, mortars, small armaments, refurbished Kalashnikovs, combat and winter clothes, as well as funds.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/how-india-secretly-armed-ahmad-shah-massouds-northern-alliance/article29310513.ece |title=How India secretly armed Afghanistan's Northern Alliance |last=Sudharshan |first=V |date=September 1, 2021 |newspaper=The Hindu |access-date=August 15, 2021 }}</ref>  India was particularly concerned about Pakistan's Taliban strategy and the Islamic militancy in its neighborhood; it provided U.S.$70 million in aid including two [[Mil Mi-17|Mi-17]] helicopters, three additional helicopters in 2000 and US$8 million worth of high-altitude equipment in 2001.<ref>Duncan Mcleod: {{Google books |id=EqDdfZwSc3EC |page=93 |title=India and Pakistan }}</ref> Also In the 1990s, India had run a field hospital at Farkor on the Tajik-Afghan border to treat wounded fighters from the then Northern Alliance that was battling the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
It was at the very same hospital that the Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Masood was pronounced dead after being assassinated just two days before the 9/11 terror strikes in 2001.<ref name="timesofindia.indiatimes.com">{{cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-airlifts-military-hospital-to-Tajikistan-to-strengthen-geo-strategic-footprint-in-Central-Asia/articleshow/19606798.cms|title=India airlifts military hospital to Tajikistan to strengthen geo-strategic footprint in Central Asia|author=Rajat Pandit|date=April 18, 2013|work=The Times of India}}</ref> Furthermore, the alliance supposedly also received minor aid from [[Tajikistan]], Russia and [[Iran]] because of their opposition to the Taliban and the Pakistani control over the Taliban's Emirate. Their support remained limited to the most needed things. Meanwhile, Pakistan engaged up to 28,000 Pakistani nationals and regular Pakistani army troops to fight alongside the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces against Massoud.<ref name="National Geographic"/><ref name="History Commons">{{cite web|year=2010|url=http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=ahmed_shah_massoud|title=History Commons|publisher=[[History Commons]]|access-date=August 24, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140125130822/http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=ahmed_shah_massoud|archive-date=January 25, 2014}}</ref>

In April 2001, the president of the [[European Parliament]], [[Nicole Fontaine]] (who called Massoud the "pole of liberty in Afghanistan"), invited Massoud with the support of French and Belgian politicians to address the European Parliament in [[Brussels]], Belgium. In his speech, he asked for humanitarian aid for the people of Afghanistan. Massoud further went on to warn that his intelligence agents had gained limited knowledge about a large-scale terrorist attack on U.S. soil being imminent.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=History Commons|url=http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a040601massoudspeech&scale=0|title=April 6, 2001: Rebel Leader Warns Europe and US About Large-Scale Imminent Al-Qaeda Attacks|access-date=February 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220142831/http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a040601massoudspeech&scale=0|archive-date=December 20, 2016}}</ref>

==Assassination==
{{Main|Assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud}}

<!-- This section is linked from [[Taliban]] -->
[[File:Massoud Memorial.jpg|thumb|left|[[Afghan National Army]] honouring Massoud's resistance at his tomb and memorial in September 2010]]

Massoud, then aged 48, was the target of an [[assassination]] plot in [[Khwaja Bahauddin District|Khwājah Bahā ud Dīn]] (Khvājeh Bahāuḏḏīn<ref>{{Cite web|title=Khwājah Bahā ud Dīn|url=http://www.geonames.org/1136289/khwajah-baha-ud-din.html#tab-a|url-status=live|access-date=August 19, 2021|website=www.geonames.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109193726/http://www.geonames.org/1136289/khwajah-baha-ud-din.html |archive-date=November 9, 2018 }}</ref>), [[Takhar Province]] in northeastern Afghanistan on September 9, 2001.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/10/world/taliban-foe-hurt-and-aide-killed-by-bomb.html |title=Taliban Foe Hurt and Aide Killed by Bomb |location=Afghanistan |work=The New York Times |date=September 10, 2001|access-date=July 17, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=John F. Burns |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/09/world/threats-responses-assassination-afghans-too-mark-day-disaster-hero-was-lost.html |title=THREATS AND RESPONSES: ASSASSINATION; Afghans, Too, Mark a Day of Disaster: A Hero Was Lost |location=Afghanistan |work=The New York Times |date=September 9, 2002 |access-date=July 17, 2014}}</ref><ref>Antonio Giustozzi, ''Empires of Mud'' (London: St. Martin's Press, 2012). {{ISBN|9781849042253}}; and Marcela Grad, ''Massoud: An Intimate Portrait of the Legendary Afghan Leader'' (Webster MO: Webster University Press, 2009) {{ISBN|9780982161500}}. {{ISBN|9780982161500}}</ref><ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news |last=Bearak |first=Barry |date=November 9, 1999 |title=Afghan 'Lion' Fights Taliban With Rifle and Fax Machine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/09/world/afghan-lion-fights-taliban-with-rifle-and-fax-machine.html |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=July 18, 2012 |title=Mohammed Daoud Khan |url=http://www.historyinanhour.com/2012/07/18/mohammed-daoud-khan-summary/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929064911/http://www.historyinanhour.com/2012/07/18/mohammed-daoud-khan-summary/ |archive-date=September 29, 2018 |access-date=December 25, 2014 |work=History in an Hour}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Coll |first=Steve |author-link=Steve Coll |title=[[Ghost Wars|Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001]] |publisher=[[Penguin Group]] |year=2004 |isbn=9781594200076 |pages=123–124, 151–152 |quote=But the CIA did begin in late 1984 to secretly pass money and light supplies to Massoud without telling Pakistan.&nbsp;... Practicing standard tradecraft, the Islamabad station organized its Afghan network so that no one CIA officer, not even [[Milton Bearden|Bearden]], knew the real name of every agent in the system. Commanders on retainer were given cryptonyms for cabling purposes. Massoud was too well known to be hidden behind code names, but even so, knowledge of that liaison within the U.S. embassy was limited very tightly.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Weir |first1=William |title=Guerrilla Warfare Irregular Warfare in the Twentieth Century |date=2008 |publisher=Stackpole Books |isbn=9781461751090 |pages=209–10}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Civil War |encyclopedia=Conflict in Afghanistan: A Historical Encyclopedia Roots of Modern Conflict |publisher=ABC-CLIO |url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=bv4hzxpo424C}} |access-date=March 12, 2015 |last=Clements |first=Frank |date=2003 |page=49 |isbn=9781851094028}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=A Decade Ago, Massoud's Killing Preceded Sept. 11 |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/09/09/140328019/a-decade-ago-massouds-assassination-preceded-sept-11 |newspaper=[[NPR.org]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=April 5, 2003 |title=Mujahedin Victory Event Falls Flat |url=http://www.e-ariana.com/ariana/eariana.nsf/allDocsArticles/D499F506DA74819687256D1C0046BCC5?OpenDocument |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141225195549/http://www.e-ariana.com/ariana/eariana.nsf/allDocsArticles/D499F506DA74819687256D1C0046BCC5?OpenDocument |archive-date=December 25, 2014 |work=Danish Karokhel}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dorronsoro |first1=Gilles |date=October 14, 2007 |title=Kabul at War (1992–1996): State, Ethnicity and Social Classes |url=https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/212 |journal=Gilles Dorronsoro |doi=10.4000/samaj.212 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="timesofindia.indiatimes.com" /><ref name="Grad_310">{{cite book |last=Marcela Grad |title=Massoud: An Intimate Portrait of the Legendary Afghan Leader |publisher=Webster University Press |edition=March 1, 2009 |page=310}}{{pb}}Also [[Peter Bergen]] (2011), {{Google books|title=The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict Between America and Al-Qaeda|id=kYdLqOUj8lUC|page=8}}. "Mahmoud [...] espoused a more moderate form of Islamism and an orientation to the West."</ref><ref name="france24.com">{{cite news |date=September 9, 2021 |title=Death of an Afghan icon: 20 years since the assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud |url=https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20210909-death-of-an-afghan-icon-20-years-since-the-assassination-of-ahmad-shah-massoud |work=France24}}</ref><ref name="telegraph.co.uk">{{cite web |date=September 16, 2001 |title=Ahmad Shah Massoud |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1340726/Ahmad-Shah-Massoud.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1340726/Ahmad-Shah-Massoud.html |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The attackers' names were alternately given as Dahmane Abd al-Sattar, husband of [[Malika El Aroud]], and Bouraoui el-Ouaer; or 34-year-old Karim Touzani and 26-year-old Kacem Bakkali.<ref>Pinto, Maria do Ceu. "Islamist and Middle Eastern Terrorism: A Threat to Europe?". p. 72.</ref>

The attackers claimed to be [[Belgium|Belgians]] originally from [[Morocco]]. According to ''[[Le Monde]]'' they transited through the municipality of [[Molenbeek]].<ref>Stroobants, Jean-Pierre. [http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2015/11/16/molenbeek-la-plaque-tournante-belge-du-terrorisme-islamiste_4810617_3214.html "Molenbeek, la plaque tournante belge du terrorisme islamiste"], ''[[Le Monde]]'', Brussels, November 16, 2015. Retrieved on January 15, 2016.</ref> Their passports turned out to be stolen and their nationality was later determined to be [[Tunisia]]n. Waiting for almost three weeks (during which they also interviewed [[Burhanuddin Rabbani]] and [[Abdul Rasul Sayyaf]]) for an interview opportunity, on September 8, 2001, an aide to Massoud recalls the would-be suicide attackers "were so worried" and threatened to leave if the interview did not happen in the next 24 hours (until September 10, 2001). They were finally granted an interview. During the interview, they set off a bomb composed of explosives hidden in the camera and in a battery-pack belt. Massoud died in a helicopter that was taking him to an [[Farkhor Air Base|Indian military field hospital]] at [[Farkhor]] in nearby Tajikistan.<ref name="timesofindia.indiatimes.com"/> The explosion also killed Mohammed Asim Suhail, a United Front official, while [[Mohammad Fahim Dashty]] and [[Massoud Khalili]] were injured. One of the suicide attackers, Bouraoui, was killed by the explosion, while Dahmane Abd al-Sattar was captured and shot while trying to escape.

Despite initial denials by the United Front, news of Massoud's death was reported almost immediately, appearing on the BBC, and in European and North American newspapers on September 10, 2001. On September 16, the United Front officially announced that Massoud had died of injuries in the suicide attack. Massoud was buried in his home village of [[Bazarak, Panjshir|Bazarak]] in the Panjshir Valley.<ref>{{cite news|last=Bearak |first=Barry |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/17/world/rebel-chief-who-fought-the-taliban-is-buried.html |title=Rebel Chief Who Fought The Taliban Is Buried |location=Pakistan; Afghanistan |work=The New York Times |date=September 17, 2001 |access-date=July 17, 2014}}</ref> The funeral, although in a remote rural area, was attended by hundreds of thousands of people.

Massoud had survived assassination attempts over a period of 26 years, including attempts made by al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the Pakistani ISI and before them the Soviet KGB, the Afghan communist KHAD and Hekmatyar. The first attempt on Massoud's life was carried out by Hekmatyar and two Pakistani ISI agents in 1975 when Massoud was 22 years old.<ref name="Roy Gutman"/> In early 2001, al-Qaeda would-be assassins were captured by Massoud's forces while trying to enter his territory.<ref name="Steve Coll: Ghost Wars" />

===Connection to September 11, 2001===
The assassination of Massoud is considered to have a strong connection to the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001 on U.S. soil, which killed nearly 3,000 people. It appeared to have been the major terrorist attack which Massoud had warned against in his speech to the European Parliament several months earlier. [[Al-Qaeda]]'s motive for the assassination is believed to have been to secure the Taliban's support of [[Osama bin Laden]] after the planned attacks. By eliminating Massoud, it was expected that the remaining anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan would collapse, allowing the Taliban to solidify their control over the country. Bin Laden thought that this, in turn, would make the Taliban indebted to him, and he believed their support would be crucial for his planned war against the United States.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bergen |first1=Peter L. |title=The Rise and Fall of Osama Bin Laden |date=August 3, 2021 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-9821-7052-3 |pages=136–137 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mWI7EAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>

In late 2001, a computer was seized that was stolen from an office used by al-Qaeda immediately after the fall of Kabul in November. This computer was mainly used by [[Aiman al-Zawahri]] and contained the letter with the interview request for Massoud.<ref>{{cite book |last=Coll |first=Steve |author-link=Steve Coll |date=2005 |title=Ghost Wars. The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 |location=New York |publisher=Penguin Books |pages=574–576 |isbn=978-0-14-303466-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Burke |first=Jason |author-link=Jason Burke |date=2007 |title=Al-Qaeda. The True Story of Radical Islam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z0c1fNcjL5sC&pg=PT291 |location=London |publisher=Penguin Books |edition=3rd |page=197 |isbn=978-0-14-103136-1}}<br />{{cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100975171479902000 |title=Forgotten Computer Reveals Thinking Behind Four Years of al Qaeda Doings |last1=Cullison |first1=Alan |last2=Higgins |first2=Andrew |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=December 31, 2001 |access-date=December 26, 2021}}<br />{{cite magazine |last=Cullison |first=Alan |date=September 2004 |title=Inside Al-Qaeda's Hard Drive |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/09/inside-al-qaeda-s-hard-drive/303428/ |magazine=The Atlantic |access-date=December 26, 2021}}</ref> The two assassins had completed military training in training camps in Afghanistan at the end of 2000 and were selected for the suicide mission in the spring or early summer of the following year.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gutman |first=Roy |author-link=Roy Gutman |date=2013 |title=How We Missed the Story. Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, and the Hijacking of Afghanistan |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=United States Institute of Peace |edition=2nd |pages=269–271 |isbn=978-1-60127-146-4}}</ref> The Afghan publicist [[Waheed Muzhda]], who worked for the Taliban in the Foreign Ministry, confirmed the two assassins met with al-Qaeda officials in Kandahar and bin Laden and al-Zawahri saw them off when they left.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gall |first=Sandy |author-link=Sandy Gall |date=2021 |title=Afghan Napoleon: The Life of Ahmad Shah Massoud |location=London |publisher=Haus Publishing |page=303 |isbn=978-1-913368-22-7}}</ref> Following the assassination, bin Laden had an emissary deliver Dahmane Abd al-Sattar's widow a letter with $500 in an envelope to settle a debt.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bergen |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Bergen |date=2006 |title=The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_XkM92XMlQ4C&pg=PA297 |location=New York |publisher=The Free Press |isbn=978-0-7432-9592-5 |pages=296–298}}</ref> An al-Qaeda magazine in Saudi Arabia later published a biography of Youssef al-Aayyiri, who headed al-Qaeda's operations in Saudi Arabia from 2002, which described al-Qaeda's involvement in Massoud's assassination. Osama bin Laden commissioned the assassination attempt to appease the Taliban because of the imminent terrorist attacks in the US, which would cause serious problems for the Taliban.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bergen |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Bergen |date=2021 |title=The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mWI7EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA136 |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |pages=136–137, 301 |isbn=978-1-9821-7052-3}}</ref>

The Taliban denied any involvement in Massoud's assassination, and it is very unlikely that they were privy to the assassination plans. There were a few minor attacks by the Taliban after the attack, but no major offensive.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Strick van Linschoten |first1=Alex |last2=Kuehn |first2=Felix |date=2012 |title=An Enemy We Created: The Myth of the Taliban–Al-Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PpqKLn7eugEC&pg=PA206 |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=206–209 |isbn=978-0-19-992731-9}}</ref>

===Investigative commission===

In April 2003, the [[Karzai administration]] created a commission to investigate the assassination of Massoud.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/29/world/aftereffects-briefly-noted-afghan-panel-to-investigate-massoud-s-death.html |title=Aftereffects: Briefly Noted; Afghan Panel To Investigate Massoud'S Death |location=New York City; Washington (Dc); Afghanistan |work=The New York Times |date=April 29, 2003 |access-date=July 17, 2014}}</ref> In 2003, French investigators and the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] were able to trace the provenance of the camera used in the assassination, which had been stolen in France some time earlier.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afghanistannewscenter.com/news/2003/october/oct172003.html |title=TV camera rigged to kill Afghan rebel Masood stolen in France: police |access-date=September 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516042607/http://www.afghanistannewscenter.com/news/2003/october/oct172003.html |archive-date=May 16, 2013}}</ref>

==Legacy==

===National Hero of Afghanistan===
[[File:Tomb site of Ahmad Shah Massoud in Panjshir.jpg|thumb|Massoud's tomb in Panjshir, 2011.]]
[[File:Massoud cirkle - panoramio.jpg|thumb|The Massoud Circle in Kabul, 2006]]

Massoud was the only chief Afghan leader who never left Afghanistan in the fight against the Soviet Union and later in the fight against the Taliban Emirate.<ref name="CNN">{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/27/massoud.afghanistan/ |title=He would have found Bin Laden|publisher=CNN |date=May 27, 2009}}</ref> In the areas under his direct control, such as Panjshir, some parts of Parwan and Takhar, Massoud established democratic institutions. One refugee who cramped his family of 27 into an old jeep to flee from the Taliban to the area of Massoud described Massoud's territory in 1997 as "the last tolerant corner of Afghanistan".<ref name="Journeyman Picture/ABC Australia">{{cite web |year=1997 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvYglyjbHkI | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927165003/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvYglyjbHkI| archive-date=September 27, 2009 |title=Massoud's Last Stand|publisher=Journeyman Pictures/ABC Australia}}</ref>
* In 2001, the Afghan interim government under president [[Hamid Karzai]] officially awarded Massoud the title of "Hero of the Afghan Nation".<ref name="CNN"/><ref name="Eurasianet.org">{{cite web|year=2004|url=http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav101304.shtml|title=Playing the Massoud card|publisher=Eurasianet.org|access-date=August 24, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611041316/http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav101304.shtml|archive-date=June 11, 2011}}</ref> One analyst in 2004 said:

<blockquote>One man holds a greater political punch than all 18 living [Afghan] presidential candidates combined. Though already dead for three years.... Since his death on September 9, 2001 at the hands of two al Qaeda-linked Islamic radicals, Massoud has been transformed from mujahedin to national hero{{snd}}if not saint. Pictures of Massoud, the Afghan mujahedin who battled the Soviets, other warlords, and the Taliban for more than 20 years, vastly outnumber those of any other Afghan including those of Karzai.<ref name="Eurasianet.org"/></blockquote>

Today Panjshir, the home of Massoud,

<blockquote>is arguably the most peaceful place in the entire country. A small US military reconstruction team is based here, but there are none of the signs of foreign occupation that exist elsewhere. Even Afghan soldiers are few and far between. Instead, the people like to boast about how they keep their own security.<ref name="The National">{{cite web |year=2010 |url=http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/south-asia/reconciliation-plans-worry-afghans-in-the-north#full |title=Reconciliation plans worry Afghans in the north |work=[[The National (Abu Dhabi)|The National]]}}</ref></blockquote>
* The Massoud Foundation was established in 2003 to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghans through economic and social programs that include business development, reconstruction and infrastructure improvements, and education programs. It promotes justice, gender equality, fair government, and human rights.<ref name="t934">{{cite web |last= Stamm |first=Capt. John| title=Promoting peace through prosperity | website=[[ Defense Visual Information Distribution Service]]| date=May 28, 2024 | url=https://www.dvidshub.net/news/38357/promoting-peace-through-prosperity | access-date=May 29, 2024}}</ref>
* A major road in Kabul was named Great Massoud Road.<ref name="Nugent 2002 h168">{{cite web | last=Nugent | first=Nicholas | title=Afghanistan: Waiting for War Again | website=Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank | date=October 1, 2002 | url=https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/the-world-today/2002-10/afghanistan-waiting-war-again | access-date=January 5, 2024}}</ref>
* A monument to Massoud was installed outside the US Embassy.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}
* A street in New Delhi, India, is named after Ahmad Shah Massoud. It is the first time that such an honour has been extended to a leader from that country as part of close ties between Afghanistan and India.<ref name="Hindustan Times 2007 d470">{{cite web | title=Road named after Afghan hero | website=Hindustan Times | date=April 5, 2007 | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/road-named-after-afghan-hero/story-qQ7Q5SPz2XmsMCQiDoVqCI.html | access-date=January 5, 2024}}</ref> A street in New Delhi was named after him in 2007.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2Security Advisory : 2Security Advisory |url=https://eoi.gov.in/kabul/?0208?sa021 |access-date=July 2, 2024 |website=eoi.gov.in}}</ref> 
* [[Magpul Industries#Magpul Massoud|Magpul Massoud]] was a [[7.62×51mm NATO|7.62 NATO]] rifle produced by [[Magpul Industries|Magpul]] which was named after himself.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

The road near the Afghanistan Embassy is a "symbol of ties" that binds the two nations that have always "enjoyed excellent relations".{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

His friend [[Abdullah Abdullah]] said that Massoud was different from the other guerilla leaders. "He is a hero who led a clear struggle for the values of the people".<ref name="aljazeera.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/09/20129913233327927.html|title=Remembering the 'Lion of Panjshir'|first=Qais|last=Azimy|website=www.aljazeera.com}}</ref>

In a 2001 mourning ceremony at Moscow to honour the memory of Ahmad Shah Massoud, one-time foe [[Abdul Qadir (Afghan communist)|Colonel Abdul Qadir]] stated: "Though Massoud and I used to be enemies, I am sure he deserves great respect as an outstanding military leader and, first of all, as a patriot of his country".

===Titles===
Massoud's byname, "Lion of Panjshir" ({{langx|fa|شیر پنجشیر}}, "Shir-i Panjshir"), earned for his role during the Soviet occupation, is a rhyming play on words in [[Persian language|Persian]], as the name of the valley means "five lions".

''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' referred to Massoud as "The Afghan Who Won the [[Cold War]]",<ref name="Charlie Rose">{{cite web |year=2001 |url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2911290068493351924 |title=Charlie Rose March 26, 2001 |publisher=[[CBS]] |access-date=August 24, 2010 |archive-date=April 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110417165736/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2911290068493351924 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Afghanistan in the shadow of Ahmad Shah Massoud | url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/9/9/afghanistan-in-the-shadow-of-ahmad-shah-massoud }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Malejacq | first1=Romain | title=From Rebel to Quasi-State: Governance, Diplomacy and Legitimacy in the Midst of Afghanistan's Wars (1979–2001) | journal=Small Wars & Insurgencies | date=2017 | volume=28 | issue=4–5 | pages=867–886 | doi=10.1080/09592318.2017.1322332 | url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09592318.2017.1322332 | hdl=2066/182125 | hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| title=Ahmad Shah Massoud and the genesis of the nationalist anti-Communist movement in Northeastern Afghanistan 1969-1979 | url=https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/2928447/437751.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231205230905/https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/2928447/437751.pdf | archive-date=2023-12-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Demystifying a Warlord: Conflicting Historical Representations of Ahmad Shah Massoud | date=September 19, 2017 | url=https://www.milestonesjournal.net/articles/2017/9/19/demystifying-a-warlord-conflicting-historical-representations-of-ahmad-shah-massoud }}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=October 2012}} referring to the global significance of the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan for the subsequent collapse of the [[Eastern Bloc]]. 

He is also known by his followers as ''Āmir Sāhib-i Shahīd'' ({{lang|fa|آمر صاحب شهید}}), which translates to "(our) martyred commander".<ref>{{Cite web |last=قاريزاده |first=داود |title=پنجشير: سه سال پس از مسعود |url=http://www.bbc.com/persian/afghanistan/story/2004/09/040909_v-afghanmasoud.shtml}}</ref><ref>[http://www.artefactmagazine.com/2016/03/20/the-forgotten-hero-of-afghanistan-the-lion-of-panjshir/ The forgotten hero of Afghanistan] ''Artefact Magazine''</ref> 

===Honors outside Afghanistan===
In 2007, the government of India decided to name a road in [[New Delhi]]'s [[Chanakyapuri]] district after Massoud.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.livemint.com/Politics/YZIyku0kK1N0OdeuN0vSJP/Delhis-road-named-after-Afghan-hero.html|title=Delhi's road named after Afghan hero|date=April 5, 2007|website=www.livemint.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/road-named-after-afghan-hero/story-qQ7Q5SPz2XmsMCQiDoVqCI.html|title=Road named after Afghan hero|date=April 5, 2007|website=Hindustan Times}}</ref>

In February 2021, the [[Council of Paris]] in France honored Massoud by installing a [[Commemorative plaque|plaque]] in the [[8th arrondissement of Paris]]. The decision reflected Massoud's unique connections with France.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/paris-to-honor-afghan-hero-with-plaque/2133198|title=Paris to honor Afghan hero with plaque|website=www.aa.com.tr}}</ref><ref name="plaqueeuronews">{{Cite web|url=https://www.euronews.com/2021/03/27/paris-honours-assassinated-afghan-rebel-leader|title=Paris honours assassinated Afghan rebel leader|first=Daniel|last=Bellamy|date=March 27, 2021|website=euronews}}</ref> In March 2021, the Mayor of Paris named a pathway in the [[Champs-Élysées]] gardens after Massoud. The ceremony was attended by Massoud's son and former president Hamid Karzai.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/paris-mayor-leads-tribute-to-slain-afghan-commander-1.1193152|title=Paris mayor leads tribute to slain Afghan commander|website=www.thenationalnews.com|date=March 29, 2021}}</ref>

He has been posthumously honored by a [[Commemorative plaque|plaque]] in France in 2021,<ref name="plaqueeuronews" /> and in the same year was awarded with the [[Order of Ismoili Somoni|highest honor of Tajikistan]].<ref name="tajorder" /><ref>{{cite web |date=September 15, 2014 |title=Afghanistan Events |url=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/afghanistan/events |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907051320/http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/afghanistan/events |archive-date=September 7, 2008 |access-date=September 15, 2014 |work=Lonely Planet}}</ref>

;Civilian orders
* [[Tajikistan]]: [[Order of Ismoili Somoni]] – posthumously awarded on September 2, 2021.<ref name="tajorder">{{Cite news|url=https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/tajikistan-masud-rabbani-awards/31440588.html|title=Tajikistan Posthumously Awards Afghans Masud, Rabbani With Country's Highest Honor|newspaper=Radiofreeeurope/Radioliberty}}</ref>

===Views on Pakistan and potential al-Qaeda attacks===
[[File:Russian Veterans visiting Masoud’s Tomb (2009).jpg|thumb|Group of former Soviet military men, led by Col. [[Leonid Khabarov]] (center,) standing by Massoud's Tomb, commemorating his memory (2009)]]Massoud praised Pakistan for their support to the mujahideen groups during the Soviet-Afghan War; however, after the war, he increasingly distrusted the Pakistanis and eventually kept his distance from them.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Post-Soviet Pakistani Interference in Afghanistan: How and Why |url=https://www.mei.edu/publications/post-soviet-pakistani-interference-afghanistan-how-and-why |access-date=August 19, 2021 |website=Middle East Institute |language=en}}</ref> In a 1999 interview, Massoud says "They [Pakistan] are trying to turn us into a colony. Without them there would be no war".<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=June 27, 1999 |title=Jason Burke meets Ahmed Shah Massoud |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jun/27/afghanistan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824004756/http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jun/27/afghanistan |archive-date=August 24, 2013 |access-date=August 19, 2021 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

In the spring 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud addressed the [[European Parliament]] in Brussels, saying that Pakistan was behind the situation in Afghanistan.<ref name="EU Parliament">{{cite web |year=2001|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkw-g27AUKE | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130721225403/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkw-g27AUKE| archive-date=July 21, 2013 |title=Massoud in the European Parliament 2001|publisher=EU media}}</ref> He also said that he believed that, without the support of Pakistan, Osama bin Laden, and Saudi Arabia, the Taliban would not be able to sustain their military campaign for up to a year. He said the Afghan population was ready to rise against them.<ref name="EU Parliament" /> Addressing the United States specifically, he warned that should the U.S. not work for peace in Afghanistan and put pressure on Pakistan to cease their support to the Taliban, the problems of Afghanistan would soon become the problems of the U.S. and the world.<ref name="EU Parliament"/><ref name="Afghanistan Revealed">{{cite web |year=2001|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3copHs3U8c | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130721231543/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3copHs3U8c| archive-date=July 21, 2013 |title=Afghanistan Revealed|work=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]]}}</ref>

Declassified [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] (DIA) documents from November 2001 show that Massoud had gained "limited knowledge... regarding the intentions of [[al-Qaeda]] to perform a terrorist act against the U.S. on a scale larger than the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania."<ref name="nineeleven"/><ref name="gwu.edu">{{cite web|year=2001|title=Report|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB97/tal31.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040113091126/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB97/tal31.pdf|archive-date=January 13, 2004|publisher=Defense Intelligence Agency}}</ref> They noted that he warned about such attacks.<ref name="nineeleven"/><ref name="gwu.edu"/>

=== Succession and resistance to Taliban by his son ===
In September 2019, his son [[Ahmad Massoud]] was declared as his successor.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ahmad Massoud Declared As His Father's Successor |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/ahmad-massoud-declared-his-father%E2%80%99s-successor |access-date=August 20, 2021 |agency=[[TOLO News]] |date=September 5, 2019}}</ref> Following the [[2021 Taliban offensive]] and the [[Fall of Kabul (2021)|Fall of Kabul]], Massoud established the [[National Resistance Front of Afghanistan]] to the Taliban in the Panjshir Valley.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cole |first1=Matthew |last2=Klippenstein |first2=Ken |date=22 September 2021 |title=Afghan Resistance Leaders, Long Backed By CIA, Have Fled Following Taliban Takeover |url=https://theintercept.com/2021/09/21/afghanistan-taliban-ahmad-massoud-flee/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921220933/https://theintercept.com/2021/09/21/afghanistan-taliban-ahmad-massoud-flee/ |archive-date=21 September 2021 |website=[[The Intercept]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Dikshit |first1=Sandeep |title=Ahmad Massoud's son appeals for assistance to resist Taliban |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/ahmad-massouds-son-appeals-for-assistance-to-resist-taliban-299492 |access-date=August 20, 2021 |work=Tribune India |date=August 19, 2021 |archive-date=August 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820043613/https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/ahmad-massouds-son-appeals-for-assistance-to-resist-taliban-299492 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Pannett |first=Rachel |date=6 September 2021 |title=Panjshir Valley, last resistance holdout in Afghanistan, falls to the Taliban |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/09/06/afghanistan-kabul-taliban-updates/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018221123/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/09/06/afghanistan-kabul-taliban-updates/ |archive-date=18 October 2021 |access-date=6 September 2021 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Massoud's cars. Panjshir Valley. Afghanistan.jpg|thumb|Massoud's private vehicles, parked in Panjshir (pictured 2010)]]
Massoud was married to Sediqa Massoud. They had one son, [[Ahmad Massoud]] (born in 1989) and five daughters (Fatima born in 1992, Mariam born in 1993, Ayesha born in 1995, Zohra born in 1996 and Nasrine born in 1998). In 2005 Sediqa Massoud published a personal account on her life with Massoud (co-authored by two women's rights activists and friends of Sediqa Massoud, [[Chékéba Hachemi]] and {{Interlanguage link|Marie-Francoise Colombani|fr|3=Marie-Françoise Colombani}}) called ''"Pour l'amour de Massoud"'' (For the love of Massoud), in which she describes a decent and loving husband.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.xoeditions.com/en/livres/my-life-with-massoud/|title=My Life with Massoud|website=www.xoeditions.com}}</ref>

Massoud liked reading and had a library of 3,000 books at his home in Panjshir.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> He used to read the works of revolutionaries [[Mao Zedong]] and [[Che Guevara]],<ref>''Soldiers of God'' by Robert D. Kaplan, 2001.</ref> and was a great admirer of [[Charles de Gaulle]], founder of the [[French Fifth Republic]].<ref name="telegraph.co.uk"/> Massoud said his favorite author was [[Victor Hugo]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2000/dec/06/features11.g22|title=G2: Profile of Ahmad Shah Masood|date=December 6, 2000|website=The Guardian}}</ref> and he was also a fan of classical [[Persian poetry]], including the works of [[Abdul-Qādir Bedil|Bidel]] and [[Hafez]].<ref name="aljazeera.com"/> He was keen at playing [[association football|football]] and [[chess]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/ahmad-shah-massoud-mohammad-zahir-aghbar-massouds-spy-chief-leads-a-different-battle-in-guwahati/|title=Ahmad Shah Massoud's spy chief leads a different battle – in Guwahati|date=February 9, 2016|publisher=[[indianexpress.com]]}}</ref>

Massoud's reputation for fearlessness is illustrated by a story about him told in Afghanistan, which cannot be confirmed. Once, while inspecting the front lines with a deputy, Massoud's driver had become lost and driven into the middle of a Taliban encampment. In tremendous peril, since he was recognized immediately, Massoud demanded to see the Taliban commander, making polite conversation for just long enough to bluff that he had arrived intentionally and not accidentally. The confused Taliban allowed him to leave.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Elliot|first=Jason|title=An unexpected light: travels in afghanistan|date=2013|publisher=Picador|isbn=978-1-4668-3780-5|location=New York|oclc=872617029}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Oxford handbook of culture and psychology|date=2012|isbn=978-0-19-993063-0|editor-last=Valsiner|editor-first=Jaan|location=Oxford|pages=808|chapter=Duties and Rights|oclc=886540205}}</ref>

Massoud's family since his death have had a great deal of prestige in the politics of Afghanistan. One of his six brothers, [[Ahmad Zia Massoud]], was the Vice President of Afghanistan from 2004 until 2009 under the first democratically elected government of Afghanistan. Unsuccessful attempts have been made on the life of Ahmad Zia Massoud in 2004 and late 2009. The [[Associated Press]] reported that eight Afghans died in the attempt on Ahmad Zia Massoud's life. Ahmad Zia Massoud leads the [[National Front of Afghanistan]] (a United Front group). Another brother, [[Ahmad Wali Massoud]], was Afghanistan's Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2006.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kabulcenter.org/?p=100|title=Solutions to Security Challenges: Interview with Ahmad Wali Massoud|access-date=September 15, 2014}}</ref> He was a member of [[Abdullah Abdullah]]'s [[National Coalition of Afghanistan]] (another United Front group).

==In literature==
{{unreferenced section|date=September 2022}}

===Essay===
* [[Sebastian Junger]], one of the last Western journalists to interview Massoud in depth, featured him in an essay in his 2002 collection, [[Sebastian Junger#Fire|''Fire'']].

===Fiction===
* Massoud is the subject of [[Ken Follett]]'s 1986 novel ''Lie Down With Lions'', about the Soviet-Afghan War.
* He also is featured as a historical figure in [[James McGee (author)|James McGee]]'s 1989 thriller, ''Crow's War''.
* Massoud is the subject of [[Olivier Weber]]'s novel ''Massoud's Confession'', about the Islam of Enlightenment and the need to reform religious practices.
* Massoud is played by [[Mido Hamada]] in the 2006 miniseries ''[[The Path to 9/11]]''.

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

{{Portal|Afghanistan|Biography}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* [[Sandy Gall]] (2021): ''Afghan Napoleon: The Life of Ahmad Shah Massoud.'' London: Haus Publishing. ISBN 978-1-913368-22-7.
* Marcela Grad (2009): ''Massoud: An Intimate Portrait of the Legendary Afghan Leader''; Webster University Press, 310pp
* Sediqa Massoud with Chékéba Hachemi and Marie-Francoise Colombani (2005): ''Pour l'amour de Massoud''; Document XO Editions, 265pp (in French)
* Amin Saikal (2006): ''Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival''; I. B. Tauris, 352pp  ("One of the "Five Best" Books on Afghanistan"&nbsp;– ''The Wall Street Journal'')
* Roy Gutman (2008): ''How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan''; United States Institute of Peace Press, 304pp
* [[Steve Coll|Coll, Steve]] (2004): ''[[Ghost Wars|Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 9, 2001]]''; Penguin Press, 695pp, {{ISBN|1-59420-007-6}}. (won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction)
* Stephen Tanner: ''Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the Fall of the Taliban''
* Christophe de Ponfilly (2001): ''Massoud l'Afghan''; Gallimard, 437pp (in French)
* Gary W. Bowersox (2004): ''The Gem Hunter-True Adventures of an American in Afghanistan''; Geovision, Inc. (January 22, 2004), {{ISBN|978-0974732312}}.
* [[Olivier Weber]] (2001): ''Le Faucon afghan''; Robert Laffont
* [[Olivier Weber]] (2001, with Reza): ''Afghan eternities''; Le Chene/ UNESCO
* Gary C. Schroen (2005):'' 'First In' An Insiders Account of How The CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan''; New York: Presidio Press/Ballantine Books, {{ISBN|978-0-89141-872-6}}.
* Peter Bergen:'' Holy War, Inc.''
* [[Ahmed Rashid]]: ''TALIBAN&nbsp;– The Story of the Afghan Warlords''; {{ISBN|0-330-49221-7}}.
* A. R. Rowan: ''On The Trail Of A Lion: Ahmed Shah Massoud, Oil Politics and Terror''
* MaryAnn T. Beverly (2007):'' From That Flame''; Kallisti Publishing
* Roger Plunk: ''The Wandering Peacemaker''
* References to Massoud appear in the book ''"A Thousand Splendid Suns"'' by [[Khaled Hosseini]].
* References to Massoud appear in the book "Sulla rotta dei ribelli" by Emilio Lonardo; {{ISBN|9788895797885}}.
* ''[[Kara Kush]]'', London: William Collins Sons and Co., Ltd., 1986. {{ISBN|0685557871}} The novel ''Kara Kush'' by Idries Shah is rumored to be loosely based on the exploits of Massoud during the Afghan-Soviet War
* [[Olivier Weber]] (2013): ''Massoud's Confession''; Flammarion.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ahmad Shah Massoud}}
{{Wikiquote}}

===Interviews===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060925043421/http://www.orient.uw.edu.pl/balcerowicz/texts/Ahmad_Shah_Masood_en.htm  The Last Interview with Ahmad Shah Massoud] Piotr Balcerowicz, early August 2001

===Obituaries and articles===
* {{New York Times topic|new_id=person/ahmed-shah-massoud}}
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/10/opinion/10iht-edsaikal_ed3_.html Remembering Massoud, a fighter for peace], ''[[The New York Times]]'', September 10, 2002
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061206022344/http://www.time.com/time/asia/2006/heroes/nb_massoud.html 60 Years of Asian Heroes: Ahmad Shah Massoud] ''Time'', 2006
* [http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/09/bc868dd6-f1e9-413b-a013-2a2f590eedc5.html Profile: Afghanistan's 'Lion Of Panjshir'] ''Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty'', September 5, 2006
* [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-sep-22-la-fg-afghanistan-massoud-20100922-story.html Afghan Commander Massoud, Killed on Eve of 9/11 Attacks, is a National Hero] by ''[[The LA Times]]'', September 22, 2010

===Documentaries/Panegyrics===
* An 18-minute [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzPcMB9SQz0&feature=search video, 'Starving to Death', about Massoud defending Kabul against the Taliban siege in March 1996.] With horrifying pictures of civilian war victims. By Journeyman Pictures/Journeyman.tv. Retrieved on YouTube, June 27, 2018.
* [[Reza]] and [[Olivier Weber]] on Massoud, [https://vimeo.com/138748304 National Geographic]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20190401021500/http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/afghanistan_revealed/ 'Afghanistan Revealed' (2000) {{!}} SnagFilms]}}. A portrait of Massoud by National Geographic photographer [[Reza Deghati]], cinematographer Stephen Cocklin, and writer [[Sebastian Junger]]
* <small>[Dead link, on National Geographic:]</small> [https://web.archive.org/web/20011109045349/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/events/01/world/index.html A Film Screening and Panel Discussion Focusing on the Middle East and Afghanistan]

{{S-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Mohammad Aslam Watanjar]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Afghan Defense Ministry|Minister of Defense]]|years=June 1992&nbsp;– September 2001}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Mohammed Fahim]]}}
{{S-end}}
{{Soviet-Afghan War}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massoud, Ahmad Shah}}
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[[Category:Defence ministers of Afghanistan]]
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[[Category:People killed by al-Qaeda]]
[[Category:People murdered in Afghanistan]]
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[[Category:Asian politicians assassinated in the 2000s]]
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[[Category:20th-century Afghan politicians]]
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