NRF Urges Afghans to Join Fight Against Taliban

Sources in Gardiz city of Paktia province told Afghanistan International that around 4am on Friday morning, a Taliban weapons depot in Mansoori Corps had been destroyed due to the air strike.

Meanwhile, sources confirmed to Afghanistan International on Friday that the Taliban brigade in Gereshk district of Helmand province had been targeted by an air strike on Thursday. According to the sources, here too, a Taliban weapons depot had been destroyed in the attack.

Meanwhile, reports were published on Thursday that the Taliban police command building in Helmand was targeted by an air strike.

Taliban officials have not yet commented on these reports.

In recent days, several reports of unmanned aircraft patrolling several provinces of Afghanistan have been published.

Last week, sources confirmed to Afghanistan International that Abul Hussain Mujahid, a prominent member of al-Qaeda, and four Taliban fighters had been killed in an air strike in Kabul's Dehmazang area in District 3 of Kabul.

After the killing of al-Qaida leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in Kabul, over-the-horizon activities have increased in Afghanistan.

Recently, in a press conference, Amir Khan Muttaqi the Taliban’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, asked the US to adhere to the Doha Agreement and to no longer violate Afghanistan's airspace.

Ahmad Massoud, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud and the current leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, said, "Ahmad Shah Massoud kept freedom alive with the resistance until the last moment of his life.” According to the NRF leader, the people of Afghanistan will follow his path.

Abdullah Abdullah, the former chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, said that after more than two decades, the name of Ahmad Shah Massoud has become a symbol of steadfastness, equality, independence, realisation of social justice and struggle against aggression.

Ahmad Shah Massoud was one of the most prominent jihadi commanders of Afghanistan who fought the Soviet occupation of the country between 1979 and 1989. In the 1990s, he worked as the Minister of Defense of the Islamic State of Afghanistan, and later formed the National Resistance Front against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan.

Massoud was assassinated in Takhar Province, on September 9, 2001, in a suicide attack by terrorists who posed as journalists.

The meeting took place within the framework of the US-Afghanistan consultative mechanism.

The US State Department recently launched the US-Afghanistan Consultative Mechanism and US secretary of state Antony Blinken had said that the consultative mechanism was launched with the cooperation of Rina Amiri.

Blinken stressed that the purpose of the mechanism is to interact more with Afghan civil society, especially women.

Rina Amiri had previously said that through the consultative mechanism, she would support meeting the demands of the Afghan people inside and outside of Afghanistan.

Earlier in May 2022, the Taliban signed another contract with GAAC solutions for ground handling of Kabul, Kandahar, Herat, and Mazar-e-Sharif airports.

According to the Taliban with GAAC solutions in charge, the provision of flight and air traffic support services will increase at Afghanistan's airports.

Earlier, a spokesman for the Taliban's Ministry of Transportation had confirmed that an aviation security agreement had already been signed with the United Arab Emirates, but the air traffic services agreement had not yet been finalised.

The Taliban has emphasised that after GAAC solutions take over the air traffic services in Afghanistan, the provision of air services for aircraft passing through the Afghan airspace will be conducted with international standards.

Previously, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar were engaged in negotiations with the Taliban to manage the ground handling and air traffic services in Afghanistan.

Taliban officials believe that the agreement with GAAC solutions will ensure flight safety and the group will regain access to sources of income from transit flights.

The gathering was held on the eve of the 21st anniversary of the assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the anti-Taliban resistance leader in 1990s. Massoud was assassinated on September 9, 2001, by two Arab suicide bombers in Takhar province.

Alison Thewliss and Patrick Grady, members of the UK parliament addressed the meeting.

Ahmad Shah Massoud is considered one of the most prominent commanders of Guerilla wars in the 20th century. He was able to defend his home, Panjshir Valley, against the Soviet Red Army and later, against the Taliban.

During the presidency of Hamid Karzai, the Afghan government honoured Ahmad Shah Massoud with the "National Hero of Afghanistan” title.