The leader of the National Resistance Front said that the people have no other way but to resist
Author: Mukhtar Vafai
Source: Independent Farsi
National Resistance Front leader calls Taliban* rule in Afghanistan “rule of fear and terror”.
In an interview with European Arte TV, Ahmad Masoud, the leader of the Afghan National Resistance Front, spoke about the fight of the NRF not only against the Taliban, but also against international terrorism. Speaking about the way the Taliban rule, Massoud said that with the spread of oppression, murder, torture, tyranny and injustice, the Afghan people had no choice but to resist.
Arte TV journalists first visited the military strongholds of the National Resistance Front in the Panjshir mountains at the end of April, and recently interviewed the leader of the National Resistance Front, Ahmad Massoud. The interview, conducted in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, aired on Friday (May 20). This is Ahmad Massoud's first interview since the Taliban captured Panjshir in September 2021. He has already released several audio and video messages.
Ahmad Massoud said in an interview that when the previous government of Afghanistan collapsed on August 15, 2021, a group of military and ordinary people resisted the Taliban's power, and as a result of the spontaneous mobilization of the people, the National Resistance Front was formed. “It doesn't matter that any foreign power will support us or not, we are citizens of Afghanistan and we are fighting for our freedom and our fundamental rights,” he added.
“Our message to the Taliban was clear,” Massoud said, referring to negotiations between the Taliban and the National Resistance Front in late August 2021. - We said, let's seize the opportunity and end the war. We have made it clear that an inclusive government must be formed and the values and choices of the people must be respected. But the Taliban started a war and we had no choice but to defend ourselves.”
Massoud called the National Resistance Front's war against the Taliban a fight against international terrorism, adding that the front is fighting not only against the Taliban, but also against all organizations and structures that are part of international terrorism. The leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan called on the governments of the world to put pressure on the Taliban to comply with the demands of the people. He added that if the Taliban respected the values of the Afghan people and agreed to hold elections and form an inclusive government, there would be no need to continue the war, but the group's current dominance in Afghanistan was imposed on the people and the people do not see themselves in the existing system.
The leader of the National Resistance Front called the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan a "rule of fear and terror" and added that the people had decided to oppose the trampling of their values. “Most of our forces are members of the military and defense structures of the former Afghan government, which, with the collapse of the government, decided to fight the Taliban as part of the National Resistance Front,” he said, referring to the fighting between the National Resistance Front and the Taliban.
Also in a report broadcast on Arte TV about the strongholds of the National Resistance Front in Panjshir, the front commanders said that 22 military bases located in the heart of the Panjshir mountains, which resisted against the Soviet troops and the first Taliban government under the leadership of Ahmad Shah Massoud, were reactivated and they have the forces of the National Resistance Front.
At the time of reporting, Mawlawi Qudratullah, the Taliban governor in Panjshir, said the National Resistance Front operates only online and has virtually no troops. Over the past two weeks, there have been violent clashes between the National Resistance Front and the Taliban in various parts of Panjshir, and there have been reports of heavy casualties among the Taliban forces, but the reports have been consistently denied by the Taliban.
Dozens of civilians have been detained, tortured and killed by the Taliban over the past two weeks in Panjshir, Baghlan and Takhar. In some conflict-affected villages, such as Deh Salah district in Baghlan province and Warsaj in Takhar province, relatives of the National Resistance Front forces were forced to leave their homes. A number of families displaced from Deh Salah told Independent Farsi that the Taliban told them they were not allowed to live in Afghanistan's northern provinces and had to move south. These families are not allowed to take with them the food and supplies they need. It is also reported that their left houses have become Taliban military centers.
* The organization is under UN sanctions or banned due to terrorist activities.
