RASC News Agency: Today, September 8th, marks the 23rd anniversary of the assassination of the late Ahmad Shah Massoud. Following the collapse of the first Taliban regime, representatives of the Afghanistani people and the former government bestowed upon him the title of “National Hero.”
Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated on the 18th of Sunbula 1380, September 8th, 2001, by two Moroccan attackers who had posed as journalists. Just two days after his assassination, the 9/11 attacks occurred in the United States. Massoud, the son of Dost Mohammad Khan, was born on the 11th of Sunbula 1332, September 2, 1953, in the Jangalak area of Panjshir province. He began his primary education in Panjshir but due to his father’s work relocation, he continued his studies in Herat and later completed them in Kabul.
In 1352 (1973), he joined the Kabul Polytechnic’s Faculty of Engineering and simultaneously became a member of Afghanistan’s Islamic Movement. In 1354 (1975), Massoud led the first Panjshir uprising against the government at the time. He gained widespread fame during the jihad against Soviet forces in the 1970s, fighting in the Hindu Kush mountains and turning Panjshir into a symbol of resistance. By the 1980s, Massoud had become one of the most prominent commanders opposing the Red Army, defeating dozens of major Soviet offensives in the Panjshir Valley.
After the fall of Najibullah’s government, Massoud was appointed Minister of Defense in the Islamic government of the Mujahideen, led by the late Burhanuddin Rabbani. However, the country soon descended into civil war.
May the soul of our National Hero rest in peace, and may his path continue to inspire many!
