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[ English Section ] [ Feedback ] Last man standingThe Times of London Anthony Lloyd in Kwaja Bahauddinn meets the Lion of the Panshir, the warlord who defies the Taleban NOBODY could be lost for words in introducing the slight figure sitting before me with his cap cocked jauntily to one side of his head. A figure of mythic status, he remains a hero to many in a region riven by betrayal and cruelty, notorious for corruption, torture, terrorism and heroin trafficking. Ahmed Shah Masood’s record needs no embellishment. As a compere might put it: “He funds his war with emeralds from his valley homeland; commands a part-guerrilla army of often vying tribal chiefs; he has fought the Soviet Army, Afghan and Arab fundamentalists as well as Pakistani regulars. After 22 years of fighting, he is the world’s most experienced tactician. Were Sisyphus given a Kalashnikov in place of a rock, his task would be little different from this man’s: unique and alone, he is the legendary ‘Lion of Panjshir’.” Bearing the title of Afghanistan’s Minister of Defence, General Masood remains one of the country’s most influential figures since the 1979 Soviet invasion. Then he fought the Soviet forces; now the Russians are sympathetic, as is much of the West. For all these countries, he is all that stands in the way of the Taleban, led by the one-eyed Mullah Omar. The Taleban has imposed its ferocious interpretation of Islam on more than 90 per cent of Afghanistan and, after a summer of military victories, is poised to seize the rest. The world recognises the Government of President Rabbani in which General Masood serves. The West and Russia fear the spread of drugs and fundamentalism through Central Asia which might follow a Taleban victory in the north. Yet, General Masood says, the West has abandoned him to fight on alone, as the Taleban is reinvigorated by Pakistani aid. “Who would like to spend their whole life day and night constantly fighting?” he asks, animated suddenly. “I do so because I am without choice.” He may look like a young Bob Marley and have the weird, shining eyes of a prophet, but he has good reason to sound tired. Apart from being on the losing edge of the delicate political games the West plays with Pakistan, General Masood, 47, has just salvaged his army from a potentially catastrophic defeat — the loss of the city of Taloqan. Early last month, with characteristic skill, he squeezed his shaken coalition forces from impending annihilation after the bloodiest battle of his five-year fight against the Taleban. After 33 days of fighting in which he admits to having lost 300 dead and 700 wounded — he says the Taleban lost 2,000 — he retreated outnumbered and outgunned. He confidently claims he will retake Taloqan before the winter, however. “The Taleban captured a city, but their plan failed. They thought the war would end with the fall of Taloqan on their terms and they were planning to further their aims in Central Asia. Instead they find themselves still fighting around Taloqan.” General Masood attributes much of the Taleban’s success to new help from Pakistan. “If it weren’t for the interference of Pakistan, Mullah Omar would be unable to sustain himself,” General Masood says with contempt. “Would these Talebans from madrassas (religious schools) be able to undertake a full-scale air and ground war like this alone? I don’t think so.” He says that this year is the most significant so far in Pakistan’s history of supporting the Taleban. Previously the Pakistanis, who have always denied a direct role in the Afghan conflict, have centred their involvement on their military intelligence officers. Mullah Mohammed Rabbani, chairman of the Taleban ruling council, went to Islamabad for discussions with Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf in the spring of this year. He promised General Musharraf that if Pakistan increased its support, the Taleban could capture the whole of Afghanistan. General Masood believes that General Musharraf, who publicly declared his support for the Taleban in a BBC interview this summer, told Rabbani to press ahead quickly with the attempt to conquer the north because international criticism of Pakistan was increasing. Privately, UN officials in Pakistan and Central Asia agree with this picture of extensive input of Pakistani military personnel advising and equipping the Taleban. This month European representatives in Pakistan were shown a secret report giving details of regular Pakistani troop deployments among Taleban units, according to Western diplomatic sources, Yet publicly the UN has neither confirmed nor condemned Pakistani involvement in the Afghan war. So far the UN has focused criticism on the Taleban’s severe repression of women. “They all know about the Pakistani operations,” General Masood says. “As to why the UN never condemns Pakistan, you have to ask them.” The tired resignation in his voice is surprising for a man of famed reserve. A colleague once told me that he had visited General Masood in 1993, during his fight against the forces of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who were besieging Kabul. General Masood had talked to my colleague at length on various issues without any trace of undue emotion. When the journalist eventually left the room, another Mujahidin commander told him that General Masood only that morning had received word that a group of his greatest friends had been captured and tortured to death. “We have provided so far for the UN,” he continues, “the name of Pakistani units here and their numbers; which division and which regiment they come from and their position in Afghanistan; the commanders; the names of those killed; the place and time their bodies were recovered; and details of the Pakistani convoys bringing in ammuntion and arms. A day before the convoy arrivals we give the numberplates, as the munitions are usually brought in as humanitarian assistance. Recently we gave them the details of two convoys which brought in 15 tanks.” In the month that has followed the loss of Taloqan, General Masood has mobilised thousands more troops in the north of the country. He has imported more weapons and munitions from Central Asia, paying with the trade of emeralds from mines in his native Panjshir valley. In the interests of survival, he has just taken a gamble in choosing former opponents as comrades-in-arms. He went to Mashad, Iran, three weeks ago to try to cement a coalition with General Abdur Rashid Dostum, an Uzbek warlord, who fought General Masood on and off until the Taleban’s emergence in 1996 forced them into an uneasy alliance. Ismail Khan, a top mujahidin commander from the western town of Herat, was also at the meeting. He is a rival of General Dostum, and his relations with General Masood have been far from harmonious in the past. The three thrashed out a deal to open a second and third front against the Taleban, from Uzbekistan and Iran. Yet the men’s previous antipathy hardly inspires confidence; and as yet there is no trace of either Dostum or Ismail Khan on the battlefield. The very presence of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan may prove to be his greatest asset, because it underpins the sanctions against the Taleban. For now, though, watching General Masood wage war is akin to watching a chess master, given only two knights and a bishop, play a clumsy opponent with permanently replenished pieces. Also see In the hills, Taleban meet their match [ Latest News ] [ News Archive ] [
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