Editing Ahmad Shah Massoud (section)

==Legacy==

===National Hero of Afghanistan===
[[File:Tomb site of Ahmad Shah Massoud in Panjshir.jpg|thumb|Massoud's tomb in Panjshir, 2011.]]
[[File:Massoud cirkle - panoramio.jpg|thumb|The Massoud Circle in Kabul, 2006]]

Massoud was the only chief Afghan leader who never left Afghanistan in the fight against the Soviet Union and later in the fight against the Taliban Emirate.<ref name="CNN">{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/27/massoud.afghanistan/ |title=He would have found Bin Laden|publisher=CNN |date=May 27, 2009}}</ref> In the areas under his direct control, such as Panjshir, some parts of Parwan and Takhar, Massoud established democratic institutions. One refugee who cramped his family of 27 into an old jeep to flee from the Taliban to the area of Massoud described Massoud's territory in 1997 as "the last tolerant corner of Afghanistan".<ref name="Journeyman Picture/ABC Australia">{{cite web |year=1997 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvYglyjbHkI | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927165003/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvYglyjbHkI| archive-date=2009-09-27 |title=Massoud's Last Stand|publisher=Journeyman Pictures/ABC Australia}}</ref>
* In 2001, the Afghan interim government under president [[Hamid Karzai]] officially awarded Massoud the title of "Hero of the Afghan Nation".<ref name="CNN"/><ref name="Eurasianet.org">{{cite web|year=2004|url=http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav101304.shtml|title=Playing the Massoud card|publisher=Eurasianet.org|access-date=August 24, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611041316/http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav101304.shtml|archive-date=June 11, 2011}}</ref> One analyst in 2004 said:

<blockquote>One man holds a greater political punch than all 18 living [Afghan] presidential candidates combined. Though already dead for three years.... Since his death on September 9, 2001 at the hands of two al Qaeda-linked Islamic radicals, Massoud has been transformed from mujahedin to national hero{{snd}}if not saint. Pictures of Massoud, the Afghan mujahedin who battled the Soviets, other warlords, and the Taliban for more than 20 years, vastly outnumber those of any other Afghan including those of Karzai.<ref name="Eurasianet.org"/></blockquote>

Today Panjshir, the home of Massoud,

<blockquote>is arguably the most peaceful place in the entire country. A small US military reconstruction team is based here, but there are none of the signs of foreign occupation that exist elsewhere. Even Afghan soldiers are few and far between. Instead, the people like to boast about how they keep their own security.<ref name="The National">{{cite web |year=2010 |url=http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/south-asia/reconciliation-plans-worry-afghans-in-the-north#full |title=Reconciliation plans worry Afghans in the north |work=[[The National (Abu Dhabi)|The National]]}}</ref></blockquote>
* The Massoud Foundation was established in 2003 to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghans through economic and social programs that include business development, reconstruction and infrastructure improvements, and education programs. It promotes justice, gender equality, fair government, and human rights.<ref name="t934">{{cite web |last= Stamm |first=Capt. John| title=Promoting peace through prosperity | website=[[ Defense Visual Information Distribution Service]]| date=May 28, 2024 | url=https://www.dvidshub.net/news/38357/promoting-peace-through-prosperity | access-date=May 29, 2024}}</ref>
* A major road in Kabul was named Great Massoud Road.<ref name="Nugent 2002 h168">{{cite web | last=Nugent | first=Nicholas | title=Afghanistan: Waiting for War Again | website=Chatham House – International Affairs Think Tank | date=October 1, 2002 | url=https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/the-world-today/2002-10/afghanistan-waiting-war-again | access-date=January 5, 2024}}</ref>
* A monument to Massoud was installed outside the US Embassy.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}
* A street in New Delhi, India, is named after Ahmad Shah Massoud. It is the first time that such an honour has been extended to a leader from that country as part of close ties between Afghanistan and India.<ref name="Hindustan Times 2007 d470">{{cite web | title=Road named after Afghan hero | website=Hindustan Times | date=April 5, 2007 | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/road-named-after-afghan-hero/story-qQ7Q5SPz2XmsMCQiDoVqCI.html | access-date=January 5, 2024}}</ref>
* [[Magpul Industries#Magpul Massoud|Magpul Massoud]] was a [[7.62×51mm NATO|7.62 NATO]] rifle produced by [[Magpul Industries|Magpul]] which was named after himself.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

The road near the Afghanistan Embassy is a "symbol of ties" that binds the two nations that have always "enjoyed excellent relations".{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

His friend [[Abdullah Abdullah]] said that Massoud was different from the other guerilla leaders. "He is a hero who led a clear struggle for the values of the people".<ref name="aljazeera.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/09/20129913233327927.html|title=Remembering the 'Lion of Panjshir'|first=Qais|last=Azimy|website=www.aljazeera.com}}</ref>

In a 2001 mourning ceremony at Moscow to honour the memory of Ahmad Shah Massoud, one-time foe [[Abdul Qadir (Afghan communist)|Colonel Abdul Qadir]] stated: "Though Massoud and I used to be enemies, I am sure he deserves great respect as an outstanding military leader and, first of all, as a patriot of his country".

===Lion of Panjshir===
Massoud's byname, "Lion of Panjshir" ({{langx|fa|شیر پنجشیر}}, "Shir-e-Panjshir"), earned for his role during the Soviet occupation, is a rhyming play on words in [[Persian language|Persian]], as the name of the valley means "five lions".

''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' referred to Massoud as "The Afghan Who Won the [[Cold War]]",<ref name="Charlie Rose">{{cite web |year=2001 |url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2911290068493351924 |title=Charlie Rose March 26, 2001 |publisher=[[CBS]] |access-date=August 24, 2010 |archive-date=April 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110417165736/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2911290068493351924 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=October 2012}} referring to the global significance of the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan for the subsequent collapse of the [[Eastern Bloc]].

===Honors outside Afghanistan===
In 2007, the government of India decided to name a road in [[New Delhi]]'s [[Chanakyapuri]] district after Massoud.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.livemint.com/Politics/YZIyku0kK1N0OdeuN0vSJP/Delhis-road-named-after-Afghan-hero.html|title=Delhi's road named after Afghan hero|date=April 5, 2007|website=www.livemint.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/road-named-after-afghan-hero/story-qQ7Q5SPz2XmsMCQiDoVqCI.html|title=Road named after Afghan hero|date=April 5, 2007|website=Hindustan Times}}</ref>

In February 2021, the [[Council of Paris]] in France honored Massoud by installing a [[Commemorative plaque|plaque]] in the [[8th arrondissement of Paris]]. The decision reflected Massoud's unique connections with France.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/paris-to-honor-afghan-hero-with-plaque/2133198|title=Paris to honor Afghan hero with plaque|website=www.aa.com.tr}}</ref><ref name="plaqueeuronews">{{Cite web|url=https://www.euronews.com/2021/03/27/paris-honours-assassinated-afghan-rebel-leader|title=Paris honours assassinated Afghan rebel leader|first=Daniel|last=Bellamy|date=March 27, 2021|website=euronews}}</ref> In March 2021, the Mayor of Paris named a pathway in the [[Champs-Élysées]] gardens after Massoud. The ceremony was attended by Massoud's son and former president Hamid Karzai.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/paris-mayor-leads-tribute-to-slain-afghan-commander-1.1193152|title=Paris mayor leads tribute to slain Afghan commander|website=www.thenationalnews.com|date=March 29, 2021}}</ref>

;Civilian orders
* [[Tajikistan]]: [[Order of Ismoili Somoni]] – posthumously awarded on September 2, 2021.<ref name="tajorder">{{Cite news|url=https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/tajikistan-masud-rabbani-awards/31440588.html|title=Tajikistan Posthumously Awards Afghans Masud, Rabbani With Country's Highest Honor|newspaper=Radiofreeeurope/Radioliberty}}</ref>

===Views on Pakistan and potential al-Qaeda attacks===
[[File:Russian Veterans visiting Masoud’s Tomb (2009).jpg|thumb|Group of former Soviet military men, led by Col. [[Leonid Khabarov]] (center,) standing by Massoud's Tomb, commemorating his memory (2009)]]
Although Pakistan were supporting the mujahideen groups during the Soviet-Afghan War, Ahmad Shah Massoud increasingly distrusted the Pakistanis and eventually kept his distance from them.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Post-Soviet Pakistani Interference in Afghanistan: How and Why|url=https://www.mei.edu/publications/post-soviet-pakistani-interference-afghanistan-how-and-why|access-date=August 19, 2021|website=Middle East Institute|language=en}}</ref> In a 1999 interview, Massoud says "They [Pakistan] are trying to turn us into a colony. Without them there would be no war".<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=June 27, 1999|title=Jason Burke meets Ahmed Shah Massoud|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jun/27/afghanistan|url-status=live|access-date=August 19, 2021|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824004756/http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jun/27/afghanistan |archive-date=August 24, 2013 }}</ref>

In the spring 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud addressed the [[European Parliament]] in Brussels, saying that Pakistan was behind the situation in Afghanistan.<ref name="EU Parliament">{{cite web |year=2001|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkw-g27AUKE | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130721225403/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkw-g27AUKE| archive-date=2013-07-21 |title=Massoud in the European Parliament 2001|publisher=EU media}}</ref> He also said that he believed that, without the support of Pakistan, Osama bin Laden, and Saudi Arabia, the Taliban would not be able to sustain their military campaign for up to a year. He said the Afghan population was ready to rise against them.<ref name="EU Parliament" /> Addressing the United States specifically, he warned that should the U.S. not work for peace in Afghanistan and put pressure on Pakistan to cease their support to the Taliban, the problems of Afghanistan would soon become the problems of the U.S. and the world.<ref name="EU Parliament"/><ref name="Afghanistan Revealed">{{cite web |year=2001|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3copHs3U8c | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130721231543/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3copHs3U8c| archive-date=2013-07-21 |title=Afghanistan Revealed|work=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]]}}</ref>

Declassified [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] (DIA) documents from November 2001 show that Massoud had gained "limited knowledge... regarding the intentions of [[al-Qaeda]] to perform a terrorist act against the U.S. on a scale larger than the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania."<ref name="nineeleven"/><ref name="gwu.edu">{{cite web|year=2001|title=Report|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB97/tal31.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040113091126/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB97/tal31.pdf|archive-date=January 13, 2004|publisher=Defense Intelligence Agency}}</ref> They noted that he warned about such attacks.<ref name="nineeleven"/><ref name="gwu.edu"/>

=== Succession and resistance to Taliban by his son ===
In September 2019, his son [[Ahmad Massoud]] was declared as his successor.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ahmad Massoud Declared As His Father's Successor |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/ahmad-massoud-declared-his-father%E2%80%99s-successor |access-date=August 20, 2021 |agency=[[TOLO News]] |date=September 5, 2019}}</ref> Following the [[2021 Taliban offensive]] and the [[Fall of Kabul (2021)|Fall of Kabul]], Massoud allied with self-proclaimed acting president [[Amrullah Saleh]] and established the [[National Resistance Front of Afghanistan]] to the Taliban in the Panjshir Valley. Massoud called for West's support to resist the Taliban.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dikshit |first1=Sandeep |title=Ahmad Massoud's son appeals for assistance to resist Taliban |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/ahmad-massouds-son-appeals-for-assistance-to-resist-taliban-299492 |access-date=August 20, 2021 |work=Tribune India |date=August 19, 2021}}</ref>