Ahmad Shah Massoud
KABUL, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) — Afghanistan marked on Saturday the 16th anniversary of martyrdom of National Hero Ahmad Shah Massoud to pay tribute to all those who had lost their lives in the war against invasion of the former Soviet Union and the Taliban onslaught.
Saturday also marked the start of Hafta-e-Shaheed or Martyrs Week as several official gatherings were held across the country to commemorate the week.
The late Massoud had got international fame for offering stiff resistance against the invasion of former Soviet Union in the 1980s and blocking Taliban onslaught in the 1990s to capture the whole Afghanistan.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in his message described Massoud as a great freedom fighter and national hero of the country, besides lauding his resistance against foreign invasions.
Although there is no official number of Afghans killed in the war against the erstwhile Soviet Union and the Taliban, but more than 2 million Afghans were believed to be killed in the wars in Afghanistan over the past more than three decades.
Afghans from all walks of life also visited the tomb of Massoud in eastern Panjshir province Saturday and paid homage to his services and sacrifices rendered for the freedom of their country.
Earlier in the day, Afghan government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah laid wreath to the Resistance Monument in Massoud Square in Kabul to honor the sacrifices of the national hero while Afghan teenagers and youths marched by cars and bikes through the streets of Kabul carrying national flags and photos of Massoud.
Massoud was killed in a suicide attack by two terrorists who disguised themselves as journalists during an interview in Afghanistan’s northern Takhar province on Sept. 9, 2001.
Related
ON
*A
“Sacred Mission”
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••
===================
GREAT
AHMAD SHAH MASSOOD
OF
Afghanistan
.
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*****
***
THE
HIGH RIVER VALLEY :
•••••••••••••••••••••
*
Strong sense of traditional Islamic piety
always dominated most aspects of lives; like
daily prayer calls- all through out the constellations of towns and villages that stretched below under the high peaked glaciers and lower rugged terrains
along
the steep mountain slopes and swift-running river flows of Punj-Shayr high valley ((roughly 75 miles long)).
Interacting towns and villages are also dotted along
the Punj-Shayr river banks, on its winding path ways, from
“Gul-Bahahr” rapids and falls, all the way
to
“Tug-Aub” hamlets
south of
“Kapisa” Province.
((next to eastern high flanks
of
the
“Shamali’s big valley”)).
*****
***
*
Those loosely-connected
and
traditional networks of isolated communities were always culturally well-defined and tacitly maintained
under
unofficially-strict Islamic norms and jurisdictions which gave the whole region a rare form
of
“cohesive unity”- unparalleled
to
most other parts
of
the country at large.
*
Those deeply-held ancient symbolic expressions
((early 70’s)) were always acting as a sort of
counterbalance
to
whimsical
shifting cultural modes and trends
of
“Kabul City”
((roughly 60 miles southeast from the entrance to the Punj-Shayr valley))
*
Kabul City was rapidly modernizing
and
slowly turning into a major international political hub right in the midst
of
Central
and
Southwest Asia.
*
A case in point, was the presence
of
more than thirty embassies that were representing many countries across the world.
*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~
~~~
~
FOR
A
SACRED CAUSE :
••••••••••••••••••••
*
The intensification of tug of the cold-wars among the major international political power brokers and their collaborators,
((later 70’s and onwards)), began
to
gradually stir endemic regional instabilities that made the whole region, at times, greatly-vulnerable
to
extreme forms of social upheaval and foreign take overs.
*
*
The Capital was getting increasingly alienated, on
its social, economical and political platforms and affairs, from the rest
of
the strongly-established traditional rural lives, outside
the mainstreams of the Capital city where foreigners, ((even hippies)), were freely mingling and actively
pushing
and
selling
their unique agendas
to
agents of the government and local businesses
*
The political mobilization and later tactical resistance and stands of the alliance under
Ahmad Shah Massood’s charismatic ideological and military leadership against the Soviet invasion ((December of 1979)) turned as a solid model,
for
most other parts of the country.
*
The mottos of his movement were closely resonated with the traditional cultural
and
religious aspirations
of
the majority
of
the people of Afghanistan
*
=================
Social mobilization
of
the Muslim people of
“Punj-Shayr”, ((a conservative and isolated river valley bastion)), was set
to
be used as a model
for
the rest of the country- it was the beginning
of
a “sacred cause” that soon transcended the
geographic boundaries
and
ethnic lines.
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The wise leadership formulated something special by embracing
deeply-rooted traditionally-practical schools of Islamic jurisprudence
as
an inspirational guide- it was all meant to address the cherished traditional religious norms, as well as, the cultural independence
of
those isolated folks that were increasingly coming
under
intense social pressures and harmful grips of foreign-inspired ideologies.
===================
===================
*
Ahmad Shah Massood was
keenly aware
of
his position and the required urgency
and
devotion to help counter the imposing agendas that were mainly serving the exclusive geopolitical interests
of
the imposing powers.
*
==========
=====
===
=
ON
A
STRAIGHT PATH :
••••••••••••••••••••
*
Soon, after the Soviet departure from Afghanistan, ((1989)), all hopeful signs
of
a peaceful Afghanistan dashed; due to executions
of
new rounds
of destabilizing plots that were obviously meant to perpetuate
anarchies and derail peaceful process among the Islamic political parties inside Afghanistan.
*
*
The dilemmas of the presence
of
arrogantly-poised
foreign military and diplomatic corps, on one hand, and the critically-importance
of
a peaceful resolution as a final aspiration
of
the regular folks, on the other hand, kept
Ahmad Shah Massood
and
other honorable resistance leaders vigilant,
as
well as,
suspiciously-puzzled- all due to greedy and savage natures of the foreign-conceived
dirty schemes and their
direct
and/or
indirect
military interventions.
*
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***************
**********
*****
Obviously, the main purpose
of
the foreign perpetrators was to maintain the powerful mass movements of Afghanistan at bay- by keeping the internal infernos
aflame under the intense fires
of
imposed anarchies
and
disunity.
*
*
In spite of maximum efforts,
((by
Ahmad Shah Massood; his associates
and
other honorable Islamic leaders
of
Afghanistan)), for a peaceful resolution, the leaderships
of
the bullying international powers were
always opting
to
deprive
the great people
of
Afghanistan from restoration
of
civilized
law and order
*
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