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Afghanistan Marks 15th Death Anniversary of Ahmad Shah Masoud
By laying flowers on resistance minaret, the 15th death anniversary of Afghanistan national hero was held in the central capital.
Known as the Afghanistan “National Hero” Masoud fiercely fought Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the ’80s.
Flanked by Defence Minister Gen. Abdullah Habibi, Interior Minister Mohammad Jahid and other officials, the CEO paid rich tributes to Massoud at a ceremony in Public Health Square.
CEO, Abdullah Abdullah has recalled the performances of late Masoud and his Mujahideen or holy warriors at the ceremony.
A number parliamentarians and senior government officials attended the ceremony, which began with playing of the national anthem. The participants paid respects to the great resistance leader and other martyrs.
President Ashraf Ghani has constituted a commission to mark the day in a befitting manner this year. The day has been declared a closed holiday.
Ahmad Shah Massoud was an important figure in the ’90s Afghan civil war. He led the resistance against the Taliban until his assassination.
The former resistance leader Ahmad Shah who had played vital role in defeating the former Soviet Union and blocking Taliban onslaught to capture Afghanistan was killed in a suicide attack conducted by three Arabs who disguised themselves as journalists during an interview in Afghanistan’s northern Takhar province on Sept. 9, 2001.
Masoud is no less a hero in Afghanistan. Massoud’s image can be found plastered on shop windows and car windshields, as much a symbol of pride in Afghanistan’s mujahidin past as an allegiance to his anti-Taliban bent.
One of Kabul’s biggest intersections is named after him, and September 9, the anniversary of his death, is a national holiday.
Massoud’s supporters, many of them hailing from his anti-Taliban United Islamic Front, which has now been reconstituted in Western parlance as the Northern Alliance, hold that had he not been killed, Afghanistan would have been in far better shape.