Copenhagen Democracy Summit - #CDS2023

The NRF exercises de facto control over the Panjshir Valley, which is largely contiguous with Panjshir Province and, as of August 2021, is "the only region out of the Taliban's hands." It is also the only prominent anti-Taliban insurgency claiming to have over a few thousand armed fighters. According to NRF's strategy, the resistance fights for a democratic, decentralized Afghanistan where all citizens enjoy equal rights regardless of their ethnicity, and gender.

The second Press Conference of Ahmad Massoud in Vienna

In this conference, several Afghanistan opposition groups are currently meeting in Vienna at the Intra-Afghanistan Conference to discuss the way forward ahead of the U.N.-sponsored Doha talks with the Taliban.

Massoud, who is the leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, told reporters that the door to hold talks and negotiations "was never closed."

Massoud promised to "seize all operations and go and join the elections" as soon as the Taliban accept democratic elections supervised by the U.N.

Resistance leader Massoud sees "opportunity for success" in Afghanistan.

The leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan Ahmad Massoud has called on the international community to help deliver a new future for his country, saying there is now a unique opportunity to bring about change.

A Conversation with Ahmad Massoud on the Future of Afghanistan. Since the Taliban’s return to power last year, only one credible and non-extremist group has been willing to take up arms in opposition: the National Resistance Front (NRF) of Afghanistan, led by Ahmad Massoud.

Based in the Panjshir Province and operating in a dozen Afghan provinces, the NRF has been fighting against the Taliban against all odds and without any international support. While the US does not have many good policy options in Afghanistan because of the Biden administration’s actions. Please join the Hudson Institute as it welcomes Ahmad Massoud to discuss the NRF and the future of Afghanistan.

This interview was originally recorded on August 11, 2021. Just weeks before US troops fully withdraw from Afghanistan—and as Taliban fighters conquer more territory across the country—Ahmad Massoud says he is open to negotiations with the militants.

“I am willing and ready to forgive the blood of my father for the sake of peace in Afghanistan and security and stability in Afghanistan,” said Massoud, son of the anti-Soviet resistance commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, in an interview with the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center. Massoud’s father was assassinated by al-Qaeda days before the 9/11 attacks in 2001. But he and other Afghans are not willing to “give in to the will of terrorism,” added Massoud.

Afghan opposition weighs in on IS militant's death

An Afghan opposition leader has called the elimination of an Islamic State group mastermind behind a Kabul bombing in 2021 a "completely tactical" move by the Taliban.

Speaking on Wednesday at a joint press conference by the Afghan opposition groups in Vienna, Ahmad Massoud said the IS militant's killing by the Taliban was a “tactic to change the opinion of the world."

The behavior and mentality of IS and the Taliban "unfortunately are identical," Massoud said, likening them to two sides of the same coin.