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Ahmad Shah Masood — the lion of the Panjsher

By David Fox

Masood, the national hero of Afghanistan, is one of the most glittering and luminous figures of the jihad (holy struggle) and resistance

MORE than 20,000 Afghans gathered in Kabul on Wednesday to remember Northern Alliance military commander Ahmad Shah Masood, slain by Al Qaeda operatives two days before the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

The ceremony at Kabul’s National Stadium commemorated the third anniversary of Masood’s assassination, and was held a day after campaigning began for Afghanistan’s first-ever presidential election on October 9.

Masood, known as “the Lion of the Panjsher”, was the military and political leader of the Northern Alliance, a coalition of factions that helped US-led forces overthrow the fundamentalist Taliban regime which sheltered Osama bin Laden and senior members of his Al Qaeda network.

“The martyred Masood, the national hero of Afghanistan, is one of the most glittering and luminous figures of the jihad (holy struggle) and resistance,” President Hamid Karzai said in a speech at the crowded and colourful national stadium.

“He struggled with valour against invading forces for more than two decades.” The alliance has gradually lost cohesion in the past three years since the Taliban’s overthrow.

Some of its key leaders are arrayed against the US-backed Karzai for the presidential poll, which is seen as a crucial test of US nation-building efforts ahead of President George W Bush’s own bid for re-election in November. But other alliance heavyweights, including Masood’s brother Ahmad Zia Masood, have thrown their lot behind Karzai — the favourite to win the poll — and accused challenger Yunus Qanuni of exploiting Masoodod’s legacy to boost their campaigns.

Qanuni is backed by Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim, who became military commander of the Northern Alliance after Masood’s death. Karzai’s decision to drop Fahim from his ticket precipitated Qanuni’s bid for the presidency.

Masood was a leading member of the mujahideen, or holy warriors, who fought Soviet occupation in the 1980s mostly from his base in the Panjsher valley. The allies squabbled among themselves, reducing Kabul to ruins after the Russians were driven out.

Two Arabs, suspected to be members of Al Qaeda, killed Masood on Sept 9, 2001, while posing as journalists, detonating explosives packed into their television camera.

Many experts believe bin Laden was given protection by the Taliban after the Sept 11 attacks in exchange for ridding the hard-line Islamic group of the biggest threat to their leadership.

Since then a personality cult has grown up around Masood’s legacy and pictures of him dominate the capital, outnumbering those of Karzai.

Qanuni supporters have pasted election portraits of their candidate next to those of Masood.

Security was tight at the stadium where an honour guard paraded on a pitch where the Taliban once carried out public executions and floggings.

A giant mural bearing a portrait of Masood was unveiled at the stadium, and workers were putting the finishing touches on a monument and fountain at a busy intersection in the capital.

Karzai’s government has declared Masood a national hero, although he is remembered less fondly by many Pashtuns, Uzbeks and Hazaras than by his own Tajik ethnic group. reuters

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