"I suggest to Amina Mohammad and others who are interested in the Taliban to go to Afghanistan and live under the Taliban for a week to find out what it's like to live under the rule of terrorism."
Author: Mukhtar Wafai, Independent Farsi.
Ahmad Massoud, leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, told Independent Farsi in an exclusive interview that the front has revised its strategy after a year of military struggle against the Taliban, and now the guerrillas of this front are present "everywhere".
Massoud said: “Thanks to last year's experience, which was successful and we did a lot of damage to the Taliban, but we also lost a lot of loved ones. Thanks to the valuable experience gained, we have revised our strategy in recent months and developed the right strategy for the current situation.”
The leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan declined to provide more details about the front's new strategy and considered it "part of a military secret," but added that with the new plan, the Resistance Front "better defends itself, preventing enemy attacks".
Ahmad Masood, answering a question about the position of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan after 20 months of fighting the Taliban in terms of military and political equations, said: “After 20 months of fighting and efforts, the scale of resistance has reached Ghor, Badakhshan, Takhar, and Nuristan. Day by day, more unity and cohesion is being formed in the anti-Taliban areas, which is a good sign for the new year.”
After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, several political parties in exile, and several military factions declared their existence inside Afghanistan. Among the military fronts, only combat clashes and operations of the National Resistance Front and the Afghan Freedom Front against the Taliban have been published in documentary form so far. No verifiable documents or evidence of other fronts claiming to be fighting the Taliban have been released.
However, many questions are being raised on social media about why the National Resistance Front and the Freedom Front of Afghanistan are not uniting against the Taliban. After the deaths of six Freedom Front of Afghanistan's fighters in a battle with the Taliban in Salang, the leaders of the National Resistance Front and the Freedom Front stressed the unity of the fight against the Taliban.
Ahmad Massoud, in response to the question of whether any practical steps were taken to unite the two fronts, said: “From the very beginning, we sent a message of our unity to the anti-Taliban fronts and currents in all political and military fields. We now make it clear that all forces must come together to ensure victory for the people of Afghanistan."
Is the National Resistance Front alone in the fight against the Taliban?
Ahmad Masud, on the sidelines of his trip to Austria and after participating in the second round of the Vienna meeting, visited the Austrian parliament and met with a number of representatives of various parties in this country. Harald Troch, one of the Austrian legislators, during a meeting with Massoud, considered assistance to the democratic forces and opponents of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan as an urgent need and said that there should be a dialogue with all European governments on this issue. Troch noted that French President Emmanuel Macron even once spoke of military assistance to Afghanistan.
Troch quoted a quote from Emmanuel Macron as follows: “French President Emmanuel Macron said that we should think about how serious assistance to Afghanistan could be. Macron said it could even be helpful in the form of arms.”
Troch added that now [military assistance to Taliban opponents] is a political issue.
Ahmad Massoud commented on the Austrian MP's speech on military assistance to the Taliban opposition forces, which he quoted from the speech of the French President: "This speech shows that the world governments' view of Afghanistan can change."
Massoud said it is a good vision that the resistance of the Afghan people does not stand alone, but such a move requires firm action and decisive decisions. However, the leader of the National Resistance Front said that any assistance to the resistance forces would not change the goals and solutions of the fight against the Taliban, but could become a means of accelerating the steps taken to achieve the goal. He added: "We believe in God and people, but any help can be an occasion to achieve the goal."
“Any decision without the presence of representatives of the Afghan people is unacceptable and illegitimate”
The United Nations organized a meeting on May 1 and 2 in the city of Doha, the capital of Qatar, to which special representatives from around the world, and especially countries in the region, were invited. The meeting is also attended by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Earlier, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammad said that the discussion on the recognition of the Taliban is part of the agenda of this meeting. While UN officials recently dismissed a discussion of recognizing the Taliban, criticism of the meeting is growing.
Ahmad Massoud said of the Doha meeting: "Any decision that is taken without the presence of representatives of the Afghan people regarding the fate of Afghanistan is devoid of legitimacy, unacceptable, and wrong."
None of the political parties, civil organizations, and anti-Taliban fronts were invited to the meeting in Doha. UN spokesman Stephen Dujarric said on Friday, May 8, that the Taliban were also not invited to this meeting.
In response to this meeting, it is planned to hold protests in a number of European and American cities. The protesters are asking the UN and world governments not to recognize the Taliban. Ahmad Massoud, in response to a question whether he was worried that a decision on recognizing the Taliban would be made at the meeting in Doha, said: "Even the thought of recognizing the Taliban is unacceptable to our people."
Massoud added: "I suggest to Amina Mohammad and other people who are interested in the Taliban to go to Afghanistan and live there for a week under the rule of the Taliban so that they learn what it is like to live under the rule of terrorism."
