Afghanistan’s National Resistance Front leader Ahmad Massoud has reportedly been making rounds in Tajikistan to rally support for his anti-Taliban movement internationally.
According to several media reports, Massoud has been in Tajikistan but frequents Afghanistan to meet with resistance units in the country. Former Panjshir governor and spokesman for the resistance group, Kabir Wasik told a Russian news agency, TASS on Monday that Massoud had been travelling to regional countries to garner support for his National Resistance Front (NRF) against the Afghan Taliban. Tajikistan, Wasik said, had been supporting Massoud’s fight against the Taliban.
Earlier in September, Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon in his address at the United Nations General Assembly, called for fresh elections in Afghanistan to form a government that was inclusive of minority groups, including Tajiks. President Rahmon also said that establishing a government without taking Afghan interests into account could prove detrimental for the country.
In a separate news report on Monday, the Russian news agency said that Massoud sought support from Russia as well. Wasiq said that Russia was a de facto supporter of the resistance as it had not recognized the Taliban leadership but could further pressurize the group to oust it from exercising political dominance in Afghanistan. He furthered that Taliban’s rise to power could prove dangerous for Central Asian states like Russia.
Wasiq also commented on the newly established NRF office in the United States and said that it would help attract influential politicians towards their cause.
The Afghan Taliban closed in on Afghanistan in the wake of US departure on August 15. They tightened their control region by region but the last standing province of Panjshir continued an armed resistance under Massoud’s leadership. The province fell to Taliban on September 6 and the Taliban announced their full control and the establishment of an interim government, which is yet to be recognized internationally.
