Ahmad Shah Massoud
Аҳмадшоҳи МасъудPanjshir Valley guerrilla commander who withstood nine Soviet offensives and became the face of the Afghan resistance
We thought the CIA knew everything. But they didn't. They supported some bad people.
An ethnic Tajik military leader from Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley, he withstood nine major Soviet offensives between 1980 and 1985 through guerrilla warfare, earning the name "Lion of Panjshir." In 1983, he negotiated a truce directly with Soviet commanders, bringing temporary respite to the valley's population, and later organized the Shura-e Nazar (Supervisory Council) to unify 130 commanders from 12 provinces. After the fall of the Najibullah regime in 1992, he became defense minister, but factional civil war devastated Kabul; following the Taliban takeover in 1996, he led the Northern Alliance's military resistance. On September 9, 2001, he was assassinated by al-Qaeda suicide bombers posing as journalists, two days before the September 11 attacks.
Career timeline
- 1973Studied engineering at Kabul Polytechnic; fled to Pakistan after Daoud's coup
- 1975Led the failed Panjshir uprising; studied guerrilla warfare in Pakistan
- 1979Renewed armed insurrection in the Panjshir Valley
- 1980–1985Repelled nine Soviet Panjshir offensives through guerrilla warfare
- 1983Negotiated six-month truce with Soviet forces; founded Shura-e Nazar
- 1992Entered Kabul; appointed Defense Minister of the Islamic State
- 1996–2001Led Northern Alliance military resistance against the Taliban
- 2001Appealed for support against Taliban at European Parliament; assassinated by al-Qaeda on Sep 9