The Beautiful Panjshir Valley

Panjsher Provincial Overview

Panjshir Province is located in eastern Afghanistan, near the Afghanistan - Pakistan border. Panjshir is bordered in the north by Baghlan and Takhar provinces, in the east by Badakhshan and Nuristan provinces, in the south by Laghman and Kapisa provinces, and the west by Parwan province. The province is dominated by the Panjshir Valley and surrounding mountains - Panjshir Range to the north and the Kuhestan Range to the south. The mountain peaks are covered permanently in snow. Panjshir has small areas of rain fed crops.

 

The population of approximately 300,000 is composed of Tajik, Hazara, Pashai, Nuristani, Ghilzai Pashtun, and other minority groups. There are over 400 provincial aid projects in Panjshir with planned costs of over US $11 million.

The Governor of Panjsher Province is Muhammad Arif Sarwari, an ethnic Tajik from Deh Mazang. He is fluent in Dari, Pashto, English, and Russian, having written his thesis entirely in Russian. He joined the anti-Soviet resistance in 1982 in Panjshir. Sarwari was appointed Governor in June 2015. Prior to that, he was a member of the Meshrano Jirga political party, Advisor to the Minister of Afghan Government Affairs, and the chief of the National Security Directorate.

 

The Beautiful Panjshir Valley

 

"Lion of Panjshir" (شیر پنجشیر)

National Hero of Afghanistan

Ahmed Shah Massoud, also known as ‘Lion of Panjshir’ resided in Pakistan during the Soviet war and his father is also buried in Peshawar which is a reflection of his close links with Pakistan, the sources said. — AFP/File

 

Ahmad Shah Massoud (Dari/Pashto: احمد شاه مسعود; Persian pronunciation: [ʔæhmæd ʃɒːh mæsʔuːd] September 2, 1953 – September 9, 2001) was an Afghan politician and military commander. He was a powerful guerrilla commander during the resistance against the Soviet occupation between 1979 and 1989. In the 1990s, he led the government's military wing against rival militias; after the Taliban takeover, he was the leading opposition commander against their regime until his assassination in 2001.

 

Massoud came from an ethnic Tajik, Sunni Muslim background in the Panjshir Valley of Northern Afghanistan. He began studying engineering at Polytechnical University of Kabul in the 1970s, where he became involved with religious anti-communist movements around Burhanuddin Rabbani, a leading Islamist. He participated in a failed uprising against Mohammed Daoud Khan's government. He later joined Rabbani's Jamiat-e Islami party. During the Soviet–Afghan War, his role as a powerful insurgent leader of the Afghan mujahideen earned him the nickname "Lion of Panjshir" (شیر پنجشیر) among his followers, as he successfully resisted the Soviets from taking the Panjshir Valley. In 1992, he signed the Peshawar Accord, a peace and power-sharing agreement, in the post-communist Islamic State of Afghanistan. He was appointed the Minister of Defense as well as the government's main military commander. His militia fought to defend Kabul against militias led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and other warlords who were bombing the city, as well as later against the Taliban, who laid siege to the capital in January 1995 after the city had seen fierce fighting with at least 60,000 civilians killed.

 

Following the rise of the Taliban in 1996, Massoud, who rejected the Taliban's fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, returned to armed opposition until he was forced to flee to Kulob, Tajikistan, strategically destroying the Salang Tunnel on his way north. He became the military and political leader of the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan or Northern Alliance, which by 2000 controlled only between 5 and 10 percent of the country. In 2001 he visited Europe and urged European Parliament leaders to pressure Pakistan on its support for the Taliban. He also asked for humanitarian aid to combat the Afghan people's gruesome conditions under the Taliban. Massoud was assassinated at the instigation of al-Qaeda and the Taliban in a suicide bombing on September 9, 2001. Two days later, the September 11 attacks occurred in the United States, which ultimately led to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation invading Afghanistan and allying with Massoud's forces. The Northern Alliance eventually won the two-month-long war in December 2001, removing the Taliban from power.

 

Afghanistan in the shadow of Ahmad Shah Massoud

 

Massoud was posthumously named "National Hero" by the order of President Hamid Karzai after the Taliban were ousted from power. The date of Massoud's death, September 9, is observed as a national holiday known as "Massoud Day". His followers call him Amer Sāhib-e Shahīd (آمر صاحب شهید), which translates to "(our) martyred commander". Massoud has been described as one of the greatest guerrilla leaders of the 20th century. He has been compared to Josip Broz Tito, Ho Chi Minh and Che Guevara, particularly because he successfully managed to repeatedly defend his local Panjshir Valley from capture by the Soviets and later the Taliban. His younger brother Ahmad Zia Massoud served as First Vice President of Afghanistan from 2004 to 2009.

 

Massoud's Tomb, Panjshir

The tomb of Afghan resistance commander Ahmed Shah Massoud,

aka the Lion of Panjshir, in his homeland in the Panjshir Valley.

 

'Northern Alliance' flag hoisted in Panjshir in first resistance against Taliban

Afghan soldiers, who had managed to hide themselves from Taliban troops, are reportedly arriving in Panjshir at the call of Ahmad Massoud, son of late Afghan politician Ahmad Shah Massoud.

By hindustantimes.com

PUBLISHED ON AUG 17, 2021 09:27 PM IST

 

Amid a complete takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, a resistance force, led by Ahmad Massoud, son of late Afghan politician Ahmad Shah Massoud, is reportedly gathering strength in Panjshir Valley. The flag of the ‘Northern Alliance’ or the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanista has been hoisted for the time since 2001 in Panjshir valley.

 

An image of the same has been shared by a Twitter account that goes by the name Noorullah Durrani and who bio reads as ‘An Afghan by birth, a South African by citizenship’.

 

Afghan soldiers, who had managed to hide themselves from Taliban troops, are also apparently beginning to arrive in Panjshir at the call of Ahmad Massoud, the Twitter user shared in another post.

 

Ahmad Massoud,

son of late Afghan politician Ahmad Shah Massoud.

 

 

Panjshir flies the flag of resistance again

New Delhi, August 17 2021

Panjshir Valley, the only district not conquered by the Taliban, has started to fly the flag of resistance all over again.

The First Vice-President (FVP) of Afghanistan and a friend of India, Amrullah Saleh reached Panjshir and declared himself the President. Citing the constitution, he said in the event of escape, resignation or death of the President, the FVP becomes the caretaker President.

 

“I am currently inside my country and am the legitimate caretaker President. I am reaching out to all leaders to secure their support and consensus,” he said.