Paris: The leader of the Taliban’s resistance movement had vowed to never give up but was open to negotiations with the new Afghan ruler, according to an interview published by Paris Match on Wednesday.
Ahmad Massoud, son of the legendary Afghan rebel commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, has resigned to the original Panjshir valley in the north of Kabul along with former Vice President Amrullah Saleh.
“I prefer to die than surrender,” Massoud told French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy in his first interview since the Taliban took over Kabul.
“I am Ahmad Chah Massoud’s son.
Giving up is not a word in my vocabulary.” Massoud claimed that “thousands” men joined the National Resistance Front at Panjshir Valley, who had never been arrested by attacking Soviet forces in 1979 or the Taliban during their first period from 1996-2001.
He renewed his attractiveness for support from foreign leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, and stated bitterness when he was rejected by a weapon shortly before the fall of Kabul earlier this month.
“I can’t forget the historical mistakes made by those I asked for a weapon just eight days ago in Kabul,” said Massoud, according to the transcript of interviews published in French.
“They refused.
And these weapons – artillery, helicopters, American-made tanks – today in the hands of the Taliban,” he said.
Massoud added that he was open to talking to the Taliban and he put the outline of the possible deal.
“We can talk.
In all wars, there is a conversation.
And my father always talks with his enemies,” he said.
“Let’s imagine that the Taliban agreed to respect women’s rights, from a minority, democracy, the principles of the community open,” he added.
“Why not try to explain that these actors will benefit all Afghans, including them? Father Massoud, a Francophile with a close relationship with Paris and the West, nicknamed the” Lion Panjshir “for his role in the battle against the Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and the regime Taliban in the 1990s.
He was killed by Al-Qaeda two days before the September 11, 2001 attacks.