According to the joint plan of the world intelligence services, on August 15, 2021, with the surrender of Kabul to the Taliban, all anti-Taliban leaders, including Ahmad Massoud, were to be removed from the Afghan political scene
Author: Fakhriddin Kholbek, member of the Sangar Advisory Board
Note: This story is based on the testimonies and confessions of people who were direct witnesses of the events. So far, it has been decided not to name any of them. First of all, the causes of the fall of Panjshir will be discussed in order to enlighten the minds of the readers, especially outside of Afghanistan. Further, we will talk about the incidents at the civil and military airports in Kabul and about the meetings of the military with Ahmad Massoud on August 15. Lastly, let's talk about the meetings in Pakistan with the participation of Tajik and Hazara anti-Taliban leaders.
FOREWORD
With the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif to the Taliban on August 14, 2021, the final nail was practically driven into the coffin of the republic of Ghani. It was expected that at least the key city in the north, which was considered the base of three powerful military-political forces - Jamiati Islami of Ustad Atamuhammad Nur, Junbishi Milli of Marshal Abdurashid Dostum, and Hezbi Wahdat of Muhammad Muhaqqiq, would break the spell of their conquest. This expectation was not only inside Afghanistan. Such an expectation was also shared by the countries that traditionally supported the anti-Taliban resistance and until that moment had taken some steps in this direction and did not want the north to fall into the hands of the Taliban, the proxy army of the Western and Pakistani special services. The north had to stand. But the reality was so that Mazar-i-Sharif surrendered very easily and quickly, and the North, the most important anti-Taliban base, fell to the Taliban.
The fall of Mazar-i-Sharif became the turning point in the nationwide upheaval that has gripped all of Afghanistan in the last month. The assumption that the US and Ghani will hand over power to the Taliban has been confirmed. The Afghan surrender project, which had been implemented in stages over the past 20 years, was approaching its final stage. The history of wars in recent decades proves that the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif has always paved the way for the fall of Kabul. But this time, Kabul fell very soon, a day later, and this is a very significant fact in the history of Afghanistan.
In order to complete the entire plan with a final death blow, regional and world intelligence prepared a plan, the implementation of which would destroy the last hope of resistance and would make the Taliban the sole and uncontested winner of almost half a century of war in Afghanistan.
This was a plan to eliminate all the leaders of the anti-Taliban front, first of all, Ahmad Massoud - a new hope for Afghanistan and the region to confront occupation and terrorism, and also considered a new obstacle for the world's special services in the implementation of the "great leap" project towards Central Asia. Its implementation would shock not only Afghanistan but the entire world's public opinion.
Part 1: WHY DID FALL PANJSHER?
Meeting in Vazir Akbarkhan
Another miracle that the world was waiting for was the resistance of Panjshir, the fortress of resistance to the Taliban. This historical valley was automatically highlighted on the dark horizon that enveloped the whole of Afghanistan, as the last spark of hope for resistance.
The world understood that the Taliban had occupied Afghanistan, but the stability of their power depended on what the Panjshir decided at the head of the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud.
On the night of August 14-15, about 70 political leaders, military commanders, and elders of Panjshir gathered in the house of Ahmadwali Massoud, brother of Ahmad Shah Massoud, on the 3rd passage of the 13th street of the Wazir Akbarkhan area of Kabul city. The question was this: the fall of Kabul is inevitable, but what should Panjshir, the main base of the anti-Taliban resistance, do in order not to lose Afghanistan?
Two options were proposed: 1) surrender or 2) resistance. Most, with the exception of two clergies, chose the second path. Both of them focused on peace talks with the Taliban. They justified this by the fact that Panjshir did not have the training and opportunities for a war with the Taliban, naturally resistance would mean suicide. But these two did not understand whether the Taliban would recognize Panjshir as a party to negotiations and whether they would sit down at the negotiating table.
Be that as it may, no one took the words of the clergy seriously, for they were completely devoid of logic. The subsequent events and the Taliban attack on Panjshir also proved that this group, in the midst of madness and self-centeredness, drunk with victories, did not recognize and did not see any side against itself. In fact, those who from the very beginning said that they recognize only the United States as a party and negotiate only with them, which they achieved and agreed upon, would never recognize the Panjshir "corrupt leaders." The only person they ignored was Ahmad Massoud, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, their sworn enemy. The mullahs thrown out of the Middle Ages considered him an "inexperienced youth", although the foreign intelligence services that supported them did not think so.
The Taliban and Pakistan had their own grudges against Panjshir. They wanted to avenge their shameful defeat in the First Resistance (1996-2001), conquer the grave of Ahmadshah Massoud, and not only remove him from the hearts and eyes of the people, but also destroy the myth of the invincibility of the resistance fortress.
On the other hand, Pakistan and the US never let the Taliban back down from attacking Panjshir because their intelligence agencies, along with the governments of Karzai and Ghani, did everything to ensure that this valley could not resist and was subdued at the first attack.
From the fortress of resistance to the tourist area
The US (CIA) and Pakistani (ISI) intelligence agencies, in cooperation with the Karzai-Ghani government's security directorate and the Haqqani network, skillfully manipulated the Panjshir during the 20 years of the republic. During this period, with the exception of the support of the Panjshir Taliban such as Qari Qadratullah, extremist and terrorist organizations such as Hizb Tahrir, ISIS, Al-Qaeda ”and suspicious groups such as Hamid Khorasani were created and strengthened in the valley, who divided the Panjshir society from within in pieces.
There were no weapons in Panjshir. The Americans removed all the warehouses left from the first period of resistance under the leadership of Ahmad Shah Massoud. According to the DDR (Disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration - DDR - disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration) program, which was implemented throughout Afghanistan after the arrival of the United States and NATO since 2003, all Panjshir armories were removed and, interestingly, by the hands of two Panjshirs - Mohammad Qasim Fahim, Minister of Defense, and Bismillahan Mohammadi, then Army Chief of Staff, the valley was empty of weapons and virtually disarmed.
In 2006, the author of these lines accompanied the journalist Razzaq Mamun in his meeting with Marshal Fahim. When Mamun asked him: “Why did you disarm the Panjshir? Don't you understand that the Pashtuns will one day return to the Tajik lands with the same attraction as Abdulrahman?*”, he got very angry and upset. I remember that Fahim answered: “Why do you need such talk? What do you want? Enough to bring discord! We must build a nation!”
The DDR - Afghanistan Disarmament Program was a product of the RAND Center, an American organization that develops programs as a strategic research center for the US government, military, and intelligence agencies. Its main cadre for Afghanistan was Zalmay Khalilzad. The entire Afghan policy of the White House from the beginning of the 90s was based on his vision. This policy continues to this day, and the direct role of Khalilzad in its implementation is obvious to the whole world. A striking example is the Doha agreement with the Taliban in 2020, as a result of which the Taliban came to power.
The biggest achievement of the RDR was the disarmament of anti-Taliban commanders, which was carried out under the political campaign called "elimination of warlords" from the Afghan political scene by human rights organizations - "grant eaters" of the West after 2001. On the other hand, this program has even thrown some anti-Taliban commanders into the arms of the Taliban, of which Kari Fasihuddin and Makhdoom Alim are prominent examples.
A Panjshir example is Commander Malikkhan Dara, who surrendered two districts of the valley, Dara and Abshar, to the Taliban without a fight last September. Malikkhan was one of the commanders of Ahmad Shah Massoud during the Jihad and the First Resistance. He returned to the Resistance Front in May, but at that time was forgotten by his comrades in arms, led by Marshal Fahim, and this prompted him to join the Taliban.
Amrullah Saleh, the first deputy of President Ghani, and Bismillahan Muhammadi, who has been the republic's defense minister for the past three months, also played a role in the fall of Panjshir. Despite repeated pleas from the elders, they unknowingly or deliberately refused to give arms to the people's militia in Panjshir, although they had all the means at their disposal. For the sake of some decency, we will not go into details.
During the First Resistance, only one road led to Panjshir - the main road. But over the past 20 years, according to some projects, including NATO PRT, five other roads have been restored through Darband (from the province of Kapisa), Chilanak (Parvan), Khavak (Baglan), Anjuman (Badakhshan), and partially the Arib Pass (Nuristan ), on which vehicles could move. To them are added several pedestrian roads through the passes of Abdullakhel, Allah Akbar, Abshar, Zard (from the province of Takhar), and Parandeh. All these routes were under the control of the Taliban at the beginning of the war.
In a word, compared to the First Resistance, Panjshir was completely surrounded. At that time the provinces of Badakhshan and Takhar were the reliable rear of the front, but now most of the Taliban forces under the command of Qari Fasihuddin Badakhshi in these provinces were waiting to attack Panjshir.
All in all, Panjshir was practically unable to stop the Taliban, a group to which the United States provided all the means of a 350,000-strong army (85 billion dollars according to official figures). The statement that the fortress of resistance was defeated from the inside is absolutely true. During the 20 years of the existence of the republic, when in the provinces around Panjshir, for example, in Badakhshan, Nuristan, and Parvan, there was talibization and isilization by the special services of the United States, Pakistan, and Karzai-Ghani governments, this valley became a “tourist zone” day by day, and its leaders competed with houses and cars and even luxurious and stylish clothes, even in who can flatter Karzai, Ghani and especially Zalmay Khalilzad more.
The Taliban and its supporters - the United States and Pakistan knew all this very well and believed in the undoubted defeat of Panjshir. Naturally, to negotiate with the resistance, which was empty-handed, was not only illogical but from their point of view, it was considered a gross strategic mistake. It was time for them to reveal their historical grievance, avenge their defeat at the hands of Ahmad Shah Massoud in the first attack and destroy the legend of the invincibility of the fortress of resistance, which in those days was spread day and night in social networks by young Tajiks - Panjshiris and non-Panjshiris.
On the other hand, over the years, the Pakistani masters have inspired the mind and spirit of the Pashtun-Taliban in the Afghan south and Khaibar Pakhtunkhwa with the legend that Panjshir is a "gorge of heresy" and a Panjshiri is a "heretic". For this reason, the war against them was considered "jihad". Later, one of the Taliban scientists admitted this on TV Tulu. A video has also been circulated of a person saying to the Taliban General Mobin, "Panjshiris even persecuted the Companions in the time of the Prophet." Of course, the history of the "heresy" of Panjshir and the Panjshirs goes back to the times of Jihad and Ahmad Shah Massoud and has an interesting and long history, which we will talk about in another article.
The author of these lines categorically disagrees with those who blame the fall of Panjshir on the commanders of the resistance fronts, including Saleh Mohammad Registani, Rais Davud, and others. The fall of the Panjshir was inevitable for the reasons mentioned above.
Part Two:
Plane of death: how did the plan to kill Ahmad Massoud fail? - 2
