Ahmad Shah Massoud (L) and son. Junior is untested and probably unsuited for the role the Western handlers want him to play. Leaders and heroes cannot be cloned like animals.
On September 9 2001 Ahmad Shah Massoud, the commander of an anti-Taliban front in north Afghanistan, was killed by two suicide bombers. Massoud, an ethnic Taijik, had fought against the Soviet occupation, then against rival warlords and finally against the Taliban. Massoud and the groups under his command controlled less than 10% of Afghanistan. They were financed by U.S., French and British secret services. (In the late 1990s Amrullah Saleh, Massouds intelligence chief, received CIA training.)
After 9/11 the CIA and U.S. special forces met with Massoud's allies, gave them lots of money to hire more fighters and supported their march on Kabul with massive airstrikes. Two months later the Taliban gave up, went home or retreated to Pakistan. The U.S. installed the various warlords and criminals who had fought under Massoud as the new government.
That was a mistake. It had been the utter criminal behavior of those warlords that had led to public support for the rise of the Taliban in the first place. To install the warlords who looted the country as government guaranteed that the Taliban would come back.
By 2006 the Taliban were back. Since then they have regained control of more than half of Afghanistan. Despite the enormous amount of 'western' firepower the U.S.and its allies applied they found no way to prevent the reestablishment of the Taliban's rule. Finally President Trump negotiated a ceasefire with the Taliban that would allow a retreat from Afghanistan without taking further casualties.
Yesterday the last U.S. soldiers left Kandahar airport, once the largest U.S. base in south Afghanistan:
The United States has completed its withdrawal from Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan, once the second largest military base in the country for US forces, officials said Friday.
Kandahar province was the birthplace of the Taliban and has in recent months seen intense clashes between the resurgent militants and Afghan forces.
US airstrikes were launched from the base just last week to help Afghan forces push back a major Taliban offensive.
“They have not officially handed over the base to us but I can confirm they left the base on Wednesday,” said Khoja Yaya Alawi, a spokesman for the Afghan army in Kandahar.
“They have handed over all the facilities to Afghan forces,” added Massoud Pashtun, the director of Kandahar Airport.
The retreat from Afghanistan does not sit well with the CIA and other secret services. They know that the Taliban will soon overwhelm the Afghan government and again rule the country. But they want to keep their foothold in Afghanistan to continue their meddling and to act against various presumed enemies be they Iran, Pakistan or China. There is also the drug business which makes for some nice off-the-books funding.
They now think about turning the situation back to September 2001 and to have a do over:
Western spy agencies are evaluating and courting regional leaders outside the Afghan government who might be able to provide intelligence about terrorist threats long after U.S. forces withdraw, according to current and former American, European and Afghan officials.
...
Among the candidates being considered today for intelligence gathering is the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the famed Afghan fighter who led fighters against the Soviets in the 1980s and then against the Taliban as head of the Northern Alliance the following decade. The son — Ahmad Massoud, 32 — has spent the last few years trying to revive the work of his father by assembling a coalition of militias to defend Afghanistan’s north.
Afghans, American and European officials say there is no formal cooperation between Mr. Massoud and Western intelligence agencies, though some have held preliminary meetings. While there is broad agreement within the C.I.A. and France’s D.G.S.E. that he could provide intelligence, opinions diverge on whether Mr. Massoud, who is untested as a leader, would be able to command an effective resistance.
Why the hell do the 'western' secret services want an 'effective resistance' against Taliban rule in Afghanistan? Why can't they, after more than 40 years, at least for once stop messing up that country?
Massoud junior was educated in Iran and Britain:
After finishing his secondary school education in Iran, Massoud spent a year on a military course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In 2012, he commenced an undergraduate degree in War Studies at the King's College, London where obtained his bachelor's degree in 2015. He obtained his master's degree in International Politics from the City, University of London in 2016.
Sandhurst and Kings College may give a good education when one prepares to be a high level poodle for the former empire. But it does not qualify to lead anyone in Afghanistan. Unlike his father Massoud junior has never fought in a war or even against a competing warlord. He has zero street cred.
Still, some 'western' officials want to support Massoud in the new civil war he envisions:
Now, various allied governments and officials have different views of Mr. Massoud and the viability of his movement. The French, who were devoted supporters of his father, see his efforts as full of promise to mount a real resistance to Taliban control.
David Martinon, the French ambassador to Kabul, said he has watched Mr. Massoud closely over the last three years, and nominated him for a trip to Paris to meet with French leaders, including the president. “He is smart, passionate and a man of integrity who has committed himself to his country,” Mr. Martinon said.
Washington is more divided, and some government analysts do not think Mr. Massoud would be able to build an effective coalition.
Despite that someone is secretly financing him:
In recent months, Mr. Massoud’s rhetoric has grown tougher, lashing out at [President Ashraf] Ghani during a recent ceremony in Kabul, and his efforts to secure international support more aggressive. In addition to reaching out to the United States, Britain and France, Mr. Massoud has courted India, Iran and Russia, according to people familiar with his pursuits. Afghan intelligence documents suggest that Mr. Massoud is purchasing weapons — through an intermediary — from Russia.
Have the 'western' services learned nothing during the last 20 years? What is the purpose of financing a resistance against the Taliban? What please is their desired end state for Afghanistan and is that even theoretically achievable?
We may not like the way the Taliban will rule Afghanistan. But they have proven to be the only force that is able to create a somewhat stable and peaceful environment for the people in that country.
Why can't we just leave it at that?
Posted by b on May 14, 2021 at 17:51 UTC | Permalink
thanks b.... that is like asking the intel agencies to roll over and die - not a bad idea in itself given how they have grown to such a large and dominant role in western gov'ts, but also an unlikely thing unless something comes along to change direction of how western gov'ts work at this point...
the cia needs to be taken down.. not sure how that happens though..
and it has never been explained to me why having the taliban rule afghanistan is such a horrible thing... instead the west are always looking for some western educated person to lead, so that they can ultimately control the direction of the country... it ain't working, but they will continue to try.. installing dictators is the preferred way of the west..
Posted by: james | May 14 2021 18:12 utc | 2
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"What please is their desired end state for Afghanistan and is that even theoretically achievable?" Chaos, as it always is
Posted by: Bluedotterel | May 14 2021 18:09 utc | 1