'Ready to follow in my father Ahmad Shah Massoud's footsteps': Son of late anti-Taliban commander

Ahmad Massoud, the son of famous Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud and one of the leaders of the resistance against the Taliban, is now ready to follow the footsteps of his father and take up arms against the terrorist group after they seized Kabul and other parts of the country. Massoud, along with Vice President Amrullah Saleh who has now declared himself as the President in the absence of Ashraf Ghani, are concentrating their forces in the Panjshir to resist the Taliban.

Washington DC: Ahmad Massoud, the son of famous Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud and one of the leaders of the resistance against the Taliban, is now ready to follow the footsteps of his father and take up arms against the terrorist group after they seized Kabul and other parts of the country. Ahmad Massoud, who resides in Panjshir province, one of the few remaining regions free from Taliban control, asked for help from the United States as he promised to oversee his own resistance mission.

"I write from the Panjshir Valley today, ready to follow in my father's footsteps, with mujahideen fighters who are prepared to once again take on the Taliban," Massoud stated in an op-ed for The Washington Post. "We have stores of ammunition and arms that we have patiently collected since my father's time, because we knew this day might come," said Massoud, who is now one of the leaders of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan.

Massoud, along with Vice President Amrullah Saleh who has now declared himself as the President in the absence of Ashraf Ghani, are concentrating their forces in the Panjshir to resist the Taliban. The resistance forces have managed to recapture the Charikar area in the Parwan province north of Kabul. "America and its democratic allies do not just have the fight against terrorism in common with Afghans. We now have a long history made up of shared ideals and struggles. There is still much that you can do to aid the cause of freedom. You are our only remaining hope," Massoud wrote in the article.

He said Afghans have already responded to his call for resistance in the Panjshir Valley, including members of the Afghan Special Forces and others from the Afghan army. However, he added that their arms would not be enough to overcome a Taliban assault. "No matter what happens, my mujahideen fighters and I will defend Panjshir as the last bastion of Afghan freedom. Our morale is intact. We know from experience what awaits us. But we need more weapons, more ammunition and more supplies," Massoud added.

The Afghan commander noted that millions of people in Afghanistan were sharing Western values. "We have fought for so long to have an open society, one where girls could become doctors, our press could report freely, our young people could dance and listen to music or attend soccer matches in the stadiums that were once used by the Taliban for public executions -- and may soon be again," Massoud added.

ANI