Saleh Mohammad Registani, better known as Saleh Rigestani, commander-in-chief of the National Resistance Front, is the only anti-Taliban force in Afghanistan to lead the wars against the Taliban. But how did he get here?
Author: Fakhriddin Kholbek,
Sputnik Tajikistan
He was preparing for future wars at Ahmad Massoud's political office in Karte Parwan, Kabul. No one at the time thought that 33 provinces, followed by Kabul, would soon be occupied by the Taliban* and that his enemies would seat in the office where he held meetings with former Mujahideen commanders.
Saleh Mohammad Registani, Ahmed Massoud's military deputy at the time, told Sputnik Tajikistan that the peace process was failing and that a large-scale conspiracy was underway that would bring the Taliban to power and Afghanistan into a complex playing field in the region.
"War of all against all," Registani said. - If the government fails, the Taliban will come to power, and the powers bring ISIS and other groups into the arena. We will enter the war with the slogan of the second resistance and we will win over everyone".
He envisioned a resistance that would provoke nationwide uprisings across Afghanistan. But more than a month and a half later, only the Panjshir valley's Resistance Forces are left in the field, and groups from all over Afghanistan have gathered in that historic valley.
On August 16, the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA) announced its existence and entered the battlefield under the leadership of Ahmad Massoud, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the National hero of Afghanistan and the leader of the First Resistance (1996-2001).
On June 14, the same week, Registani arrived in Panjshir and never returned to Kabul. Registani is now the commander-in-chief of the National Resistance Front and manages the Hindu Kush wars, the front's media center told Sputnik Tajikistan.
Who is he?
Saleh Mohammad Registani was born on August 19, 1963 in the village of Dadakhel of Bazarak district of Panjshir province. This day is equal to the day of Afghanistan's independence from Britain.
Rigestani says: "Maybe for this reason I love independence and freedom so much. More interestingly, I finished the Esteghlal lyceum of Kabul city, which is named after the country's independence.
There is no village or place called Registan in Panjshir valley. This raises a question about his surname - "Registani".
"Registani is my last name because my ancestors came to Panjsher in the south of Khorasan in the time of Timur Gorgani from the village of Dahbed in Samarkand, and because the center of Samarkand is called Registan, I accepted the surname Registani", - he said.
After graduating from the lyceum in Kabul in 1980, he moved to Panjshir to join Ahmad Shah Massoud, who fought against Soviet forces and the communist regime in Afghanistan. Later, he became one of Panjshir Lion's confidants. At the age of 21, he was appointed head of the operations branch of the Shorae Nazzar - Supervisory Council.
The Shorae Nazzar was an alliance of Afghan jihadi commanders established by Ahmad Shah Massoud in 1984 to organize and coordinate operations throughout Afghanistan. Jalaluddin Haqqani, the founder of the Haqqani Network, a terrorist organization now led by his son Sirajuddin Haqqani, was also a member of the council. The organization is now one of the Taliban's strike forces in the Panjshir wars. Haqqani during the First Resistance was also at the forefront of the war against Ahmad Shah Massoud.
Registani added: "In addition to being the head of the operations department, I have also served as a military, political and ideological instructor in the Shorae Nazzar. My experience and expertise are in the military part of "guerrilla warfare", but I have also worked in other fields".
Lost ideals
After the conquest of Kabul by the Mojahedin, in 1992 Registani entered the Faculty of Law and Political Science of Kabul University and successfully completed it.
Massoud sent Registani to Tajikistan in 1997 as a military representative and special envoy, and later (2000-2003) held the same position in Russia. He returned to Afghanistan in 2004, won parliamentary elections, and became a member of the Wolose Jirga, the lower house of the Afghan parliament from Panjshir province. However, two years later he left it.
"I saw that our "former allies" - and our "elders", such as Marshal Fahim, Dr. Abdullah, Younus Qanuni, Bismillah Khan, and others, betrayed the ideals of jihad and resistance. They deviated from Massoud's way. They began to amass wealth and treacherous deals with foreign countries. I saw with my own eyes that the fruits of jihad, resistance, and the blood of our martyrs were wasted, poor and hopeful people were forgotten. I did not want to participate in this betrayal and left the arena", - Registani said.
This decision had a negative effect on his subsequent struggles. Registani received the fewest votes in the 2021 elections Panjshir with "help" from "previous allies" and was thrown out of Afghan politics.
Comeback
Difficult times had come for Registani. Firstly, he was tormented by his conscience from such a turn of events, on the other hand, the financial situation of his family, which had two sons and a daughter, was difficult.
"I did not have any income at that time and I became indebted to some friends for a large sum of 3 million Afghanis. My job was to read and write articles. But I was summarizing the events that I will return to the field one day", he said.
The return did not take long. In 2018, Ahmad Massoud, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was studying in London, returned to Afghanistan and began his political activities. He opened a political office in Kabul and appointed Registani as his deputy. In August 2020, the people of Panjshir, all the surviving commanders of Massoud, and the young generation of the valley made a covenant with Massoud Junior.
On August 15, 2021, the Taliban seized power in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan after conquering 33 provinces. Ahmad Massoud in Panjshir, at that time the only province free from the Taliban, declared a second resistance.
The last message
Registani says he is not a writer, but three of his books have been published so far - "Masud and Freedom", "Masud in Memoirs" and "Intervention in the Narrative of the Interventionist".
"My political articles have been published in domestic and foreign media. If destined, I want to write the history of the struggle of Ahmad Shah Massoud in five volumes," he says.
After the start of the Panjshir wars, direct contacts with Rigestani were cut off. The last message he sent to Sputnik Tajikistan through his liaisons was that he had taken off his shroud and chosen his path.
"With this mercenary force (meaning - Taliban) peace never makes sense. They do not belong to themselves discretion. The Taliban are part of the Pakistani army, and this is the war between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan invaded Afghanistan and what we are doing is just jihad - the war for freedom and independence. The people of Afghanistan, who have been tired of war for 40 years, do not deserve a medieval system. I do not accept this either. If I am martyred in this way, it is my great honor".
According to the latest reports, Rigestani and his forces were seen in the Parandeh Valley at last time, when his birthplace was under siege by the Taliban. Even the media related to the Taliban spread rumors about his martyrdom.
On September 9, he delivered his first message to the people of Afghanistan via video in the presence of prominent resistance commanders such as Hamed Saifi, Munir Amiri, Khalid Amiri, and others, announcing the continuation of the resistance.
Apparently, he is now where he dreamed. He will fight for the liberation of Afghanistan and for his homeland, where he dreamed of becoming a martyr. This is Rigestani – Sardar or commander of Resistance’s dream, but what fate has prepared for him is a matter of time.
