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Ahmad Massoud is the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was known as the Lion of Panjshir and led the strongest resistance against the Taliban from his stronghold in the valley. Ahmad Shah Massoud Hero of Afghanistan's slain anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s who assassinated. In spite of information warfare by the Taliban that it is negotiating with Northern Alliance resistance in Panjshir Valley, Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, has said he will follow in his father’s footsteps and won’t surrender to the Taliban, who have seized the country after the US and allied forces virtually ran away from Kabul. French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy said, “I just spoke to Ahmad Massoud on the phone. He told me: “I am the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud; surrender is not part of my vocabulary.” This is the start. The Resistance has just begun.

“My father, Commander Massoud, our national hero, bequeathed to me a legacy: and that legacy is to fight for Afghans’ freedom. That fight is now irreversibly mine. My companions in arms and I are ready to give our blood. We call on all free Afghans, all those who reject servitude, to join our bastion of Panjshir, the last free region in our tormented land. To Afghans of all regions and tribes, I say: do fight with us!” Massoud said in a letter to Levy on August 16. 

He also called for aid from those in France, Europe, America and the Arab world, who he said helped them in their fight against the Soviets and then against the Taliban 20 years ago. “I ask: Will you, dear friends in freedom, assist us once more, as in the past? Despite the betrayal of some, we still have confidence in you. We Afghans find ourselves in the situation of Europe in 1940. Except in Panjshir, the debacle is near total, and the spirit of collaboration with the Taliban is spreading among the vanquished, who lost this war by their own failings. Only we remain standing. And we will never yield,” he said 


Anti Taliban fighter standing infront of panjshir entrance Afghanistan

In a reference to Levy, Massoud also said that he quoted Winston Churchill’s phrase promising blood, toil, tears, and sweat on the eve of the Taliban’s takeover of his country. “Today I think of what General de Gaulle said after the rout of french army : France has lost a battle but not the war. We Afghans have not even lost a battle, since Kabul did not fight. Here in Panjshir, Mujahideen young and old have taken up arms,” he added.

In an almost poetic call for help, Massoud said, “Together we will write a new page in the story of Afghanistan. It will be a new chapter in the eternal resistance of the oppressed against tyranny.”


Amrullah Saleh Afghanistan Acting President

Same time Amrullah Saleh who has declared himself the Acting / caretaker president of  Islamic Republic of Afghanistan after Ashraf Ghani fled to the United Arab Emirates tweeted in his tweet that  "Talibs have massed forces near the entrance of Panjshir a day after they got trapped in ambush zones of neighboring Andarab valley & hardly went out in one piece. Meanwhile Salang highway is closed by the forces of the Resistance. "There are terrains to be avoided".  See you. "  

Talibs have massed forces near the entrance of Panjshir a day after they got trapped in ambush zones of neighboring Andarab valley & hardly went out in one piece. Meanwhile Salang highway is closed by the forces of the Resistance. "There are terrains to be avoided". See you.

— Amrullah Saleh (@AmrullahSaleh2) August 22, 2021

The Taliban’s Alemarah ( the Spokesman of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) Twitter feed said hundreds of fighters were heading towards Panjshir "after local state officials refused to hand it over peacefully". The tweet came along with a 14-second video clip showing a column of captured trucks with the white Taliban flags moving along a highway.

مئات من مجاهدي #الإمارة_الإسلامية يتوجهون نحو ولاية #بنجشير للسيطرة عليها، بعد رفض مسئولي الولاية المحليين تسليمها بشكل سلمي. pic.twitter.com/FwAYBZeopq

— الإمارة الإسلامية (@alemara_ar) August 22, 2021

 Ahmad Massoud, said his supporters were ready to fight if the Taliban tried to invade the Panjshir Valley. "We want to make the Taliban realise that the only way forward is through negotiation. We do not want a war to break out,” he told Reuters by telephone from his stronghold in the Panjshir Valley northwest of Kabul.

He and Amrullah Saleh, the country's vice president now declared himself the Acting / caretaker president of  Islamic Republic of Afghanistan after Ashraf Ghani fled to the United Arab Emirates , have gathered forces made up of remnants of regular army units and special forces as well as local militia fighters. "They want to defend, they want to fight, they want to resist against any totalitarian regime,” he told to International Media.

  Experts have said that the resistance fighters gathered at Panjshir Valley will have to struggle if the Islamist hardliners launch a full-scale attack. “The resistance for the moment is just verbal because the Taliban have not yet tried to enter the Panjshir. The Taliban only need to lock down the Panjshir, they don't even have to go in there,” Dorronsoro told news agency AFP. "The Taliban surround Panjshir from all sides and I don't think Massoud's son can resist much more than a couple of months. For the moment, he does not have any really strong support," Abdul Sayed, an independent researcher, told .

After the anti-Taliban force claimed to have taken control over Pul-e-Hesar, Deh Salah, and Banu, all eyes are on how things unfold in Panjshir, the ground of resistance in Afghanistan.

Panjshir has remained a land of resistance since the Soviet-Afghan war as Ahmad Shah Massoud, known as the Lion of Panjshir, defended the region which has a geographic advantage of being sheltered by mountainous terrain. The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan or what is being called the Second Resistance after the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban on August 15 is also taking shape centring the Panjshir valley. Ahmad Massoud, Amrullah Saleh who has declared himself the caretaker president of Afghanistan, and Bismillah Khan Mohammadi are the leaders of the new Panjshir resistance.

   But The Taliban surround Panjshir from all sides and I don't think Massoud's son can resist much more than a couple of months. For the moment, he does not have any really strong support," Abdul Sayed, an independent researcher told

   Amid reports of the anti-Taliban force gaining strength, training security forces in Panjshir province, the last Taliban-free area of Afghanistan, analysts have said that if the Taliban launch a full-scale attack, the anti-Taliban fighters will have to struggle. Though the takeover might not be without resistance as it happened in the rest of the country, the fighters gathered there will have to struggle if the Islamist hardliners launch a full-scale attack. "The resistance for the moment is just verbal because the Taliban have not yet tried to enter the Panjshir," Afghan specialist Gilles Dorronsoro from Sorbonne University in Paris told news agency 

Ahmad Massoud, son of assassinated anti-Taliban fighter, calls for support

Anti-Taliban forces took back three districts in the northern province of Baghlan, bordering Panjshir last week. However, Massoud said he did not organise the operation and that it had been carried out by local militia groups reacting to "brutality" in the area.

Speech Mr Amrullah Saleh 
 

Stalwart! @AmrullahSaleh2 pic.twitter.com/ZkYIBAQp0U

— Shaunak Agarkhedkar (@ShaunakSA) August 18, 2021