Ahmed Massoud Says Willing to Forgive for Peace in Afghanistan

Ahmed Massoud leads the resistance again against the Taliban in the Panjshir region, north of Kabul (Reuters)
Ahmed Massoud leads the resistance again against the Taliban in the Panjshir region, north of Kabul (Reuters)
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Ahmed Massoud Says Willing to Forgive for Peace in Afghanistan

Ahmed Massoud leads the resistance again against the Taliban in the Panjshir region, north of Kabul (Reuters)
Ahmed Massoud leads the resistance again against the Taliban in the Panjshir region, north of Kabul (Reuters)

Afghanistan’s wondrous Panjshir Valley, National Geographic’s favorite spot for decades, paints a different picture than the one today in Kabul, where Afghan refugees are trying to flee the country in flocks.

In the 1980s, photographers from both east and west made their way to the northern region to snap photos of the late military commander and one of the main leaders of Afghanistan’s anti-Soviet resistance, Ahmad Shah Massoud.

With the drums of war beating once again, Panjshir is preparing for another fight. All resistance forces present in the region are working on more recruitment.

For the last two weeks, Ahmed Massoud, the son of the late commander, has held around-the-clock meetings with senior politicians and military leaders from all over the country to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

These meetings intensified as it became more likely that President Ashraf Ghani will abandon Afghanistan after the Taliban took over Nimruz, one of the South Asian country’s 34 provinces.

Ghani’s Responsibility

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Massoud blamed Ghani for failing to realize how deep a hole he dug for the entire country as he wasted the billions of dollars that the world was giving Kabul each year.

Despite the funds, most Afghans live under the poverty line. Only a few elite politicians have made millions off the country’s suffering, noted Massoud, revealing that those racking in the money were transferring it abroad.

Besides corruption, Ghani was also running an agenda that capitalizes on ethnic divisions, causing a wider rift among Afghans. He is responsible for pitting the Pashtuns against the Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazaras.

“Afghanistan has never been able to establish a strong centralized system, it has failed for more than 100 years, and the best solution has been decentralization and regional empowerment without compromising the overall territorial integrity of the country,” said Massoud.

“Because of rampant corruption and poor governance caused by the country’s highly centralized system of governance and security, the Afghan government has failed to win the support of the population,” noted Massoud.

“This diverse and multi-ethnic Afghan society has emphasized that it needs a decentralized political system and armed forces,” he added.

Panjshir and the Resistance

For Massoud, negotiating with the Taliban is a valid option because they are all Afghans and share the same religion, Islam.

“We are ready to talk with the Taliban, we already have contacts with the movement, our joint representatives have met each other several times,” revealed Massoud.

Nevertheless, the resistance leader pointed out that the Taliban would not be able to force matters through arms and that only peace should prevail.

“If they want peace, talk to us and work with us, we are all Afghans, and there will be peace.”

“Panjshir is the only province that is resisting, the whole country has fallen, but we stand tall,” added Massoud, recalling how the northern Afghanistan resistance had crushed the Soviets in the 1980s and the Taliban in the 1990s.

In 2001, Massoud’s father was assassinated at the instigation of al-Qaeda and the Taliban in a suicide bombing.

Massoud has expressed his willingness to forgive his father’s killing for the sake of the country’s peace and security.

“I have the desire and readiness to pardon the blood of my father in order to bring peace, security, and stability to the country,” said Massoud.

“We are ready to form an inclusive government with the Taliban through political negotiations, but what is not acceptable is the formation of an Afghan government characterized by extremism, which would pose a serious threat, not only to Afghanistan but to the region and the world at large,” he noted.



Trump Victory Expected to Boost Musk's Mars Dream

US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are seen at the Firing Room Four after the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft on NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, May 30, 2020. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are seen at the Firing Room Four after the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft on NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, May 30, 2020. (Reuters)
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Trump Victory Expected to Boost Musk's Mars Dream

US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are seen at the Firing Room Four after the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft on NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, May 30, 2020. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are seen at the Firing Room Four after the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft on NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, May 30, 2020. (Reuters)

Elon Musk's dream of transporting humans to Mars will become a bigger national priority under the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, sources said, signaling big changes for NASA's moon program and a boost for Musk's SpaceX.

NASA's Artemis program, which aims to use SpaceX's Starship rocket to put humans on the moon as a proving ground for later Mars missions, is expected to focus more on the Red Planet under Trump and target uncrewed missions there this decade, according to four people familiar with Trump's burgeoning space policy agenda, according to Reuters.

Targeting Mars with spacecraft built for astronauts is not only more ambitious than focusing on the moon, but is also fraught with risk and potentially more expensive. Musk, who danced onstage at a Trump rally wearing an "Occupy Mars" T-shirt in October, spent $119 million on Trump's White House bid and has successfully elevated space policy at an unusual time in a presidential transition. In September, weeks after Musk endorsed Trump, the latter told reporters that the moon was a "launching pad" for his ultimate goal to reach Mars.

"At a minimum, we're going to get a more realistic Mars plan, you'll see Mars being set as an objective," said Doug Loverro, a space industry consultant who once led NASA's human exploration unit under Trump, who served as U.S. president from 2017 to 2021.

SpaceX, Musk and the Trump campaign did not immediately return requests for comment. A NASA spokeswoman said it "wouldn’t be appropriate to speculate on any changes with the new administration." Plans could still change, the sources added, as the Trump transition team takes shape in the coming weeks. Trump launched the Artemis program in 2019 during his first term and it was one of the few initiatives maintained under the administration of President Joe Biden. Trump space advisers want to revamp a program they will argue has languished in their absence, the sources said. Musk, who also owns electric-vehicle maker Tesla and brain-chip startup Neuralink, has made slashing government regulation and trimming down bureaucracy another core basis of his Trump support.

For space, the sources said, Musk's deregulation desires are likely to trigger changes at the Federal Aviation Administration's commercial space office, whose oversight of private rocket launches has frustrated Musk for slowing down SpaceX's Starship development.

The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

NASA under Trump, the sources said, is likely to favor fixed-price space contracts that shift greater responsibility onto private companies and scale back over-budget programs that have strained the Artemis budget.

That could spell trouble for the only rocket NASA owns, the Space Launch System rocket (SLS), whose roughly $24 billion development since 2011 has been led by Boeing and Northrop Grumman. Cancelling the program, some say, would be difficult since it would cost thousands of jobs and leave the U.S. even more dependent on SpaceX.

Boeing and Northrop did not immediately return a request for comment.

Musk, whose predictions have sometimes proven overly ambitious, said in September that SpaceX will land Starship on Mars in 2026 and a crewed mission will follow in four years' time. Trump has said at campaign rallies that he has discussed these ideas with Musk.

Many industry experts see this timeline as improbable.

"Is it possible for Elon to put a Starship on the surface of Mars in a one-way mission by the end of Trump's term? Absolutely, he certainly could do that," said Scott Pace, the top space policy official during Trump's first term.

"Is that a manned mission on Mars? No," Pace added. "You have to walk before you run."