(که سپوره وي که پوره وي نو په شریکه به وي (باچاخان)

Anniversary of a afghan warlord

خپرولو نېټه 09,09,2014

On the 9th September 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud was killed by two Arab suicide bombers, murdered inTakhar, Afghanistan. The suicide bombers described themselves to be Journalists of a TV in order to get access to Massoud.

An official of a private TV station in Kabul "Zhwandoon“ stated, that last year on Massoud's 12th death anniversary, his supporters stoned and fired gunshots at the private TV station ''Zhwandoon’’ in Kabul, Afghanistan. Further, his supporters wanted to replace the portraits of King Amunullah Khan which were displayed in the lobby of the Station with Massoud’s portraits.

As today is the 13th death anniversary of Massoud, so the news agencies anticipate that his supporters might again bring violence to the city of Kabul and might stone the stations and other governmental buildings etc.

During the Afghan war against the Soviets Massoud was considered as a hero especially by the west. He was referred to be a true mujahid (a brave and noble warrior) by his followers and he was considered to be the only one who could defend his province Panjsher from the Soviet i.e. "godless communists“.

But due to some other facts and point of views of others a question arises i.e. wether Ahmad Shah Massoud was a hero or not?

A russian Afghanistan veteran and former General „Boris Gromov“ wrote about Massoud in his book „Limited Contingent“ and described him as „Agent of the Soviets“ who acted upon the commands of the Soviets. Further „Boris Gormov“ writes that Massoud didn’t fight against the Soviets but in fact, he stood with them and supported them in every decisions they made. Moreover in 1982 Massoud gave a guarantee to the Soviets that his troops will not attack the convoys of the Soviets which go through the areas which were under the control of Massoud. 

Another Soviet Afghan-Veteran „Yuri Korbert“ who was stationed as a General staff at Panjsher at the time of the Afghan Soveit war, confirmed during an interview that during his tenure there was no single fight of the soviets against Massoud.

Massoud is called by such names as the „Commander of Panjsher“, „King of Panjsher“ by his own followers while on the other hand numerous western historians refers him as „rilliant guerrilla tactician“, next to Che Guevara, Mao Zedong or Ho Chi Minh.

In addition to the above the wall street journal honored Massoud with the title page of the journal and called him „ The Afghan who won the cold war“. Another American journalist Eric Margolis claimed in his book "American Raj, Liberation or Domination, Resolving the Conflict in between the West and Muslim World“ that Massoud wanted to convince the Government in Moscow to overthrow the former Afghan President „Dr. Najibullah Ahmadzai“, so that he could take his place asap.

In 1993 a serious massacre happened in the district Afshar which is associated with Kabul province, the majority inhabitants of the this district were „ hazaras“ (a shitte minority). Many innocent Hazaras men, women and children were killed, raped by the soldiers of Masoud, at that time Masoud was the defense minister of Afghistan and his ideological mentor Burhanddin Rabbani was the Prime Minister of Afghistan. Despite the brutal killings of the Hazaras the Kabul government and the west were silent on the massacre of Afshar.

In 2001 Hamid Karzai the president of Afghanistan declared Massoud as the „ Hero of Afghan Nation“ and an year later the French nominated him for the „Nobel Peace Prize“. 

Despite the above you cannot change the fact that Ahmad Shah Massoud was like the all other Afghan warlords.

Thanks for reading.

- بېرته شاته