Meanwhile…Afghanistan Is Still Important – An Update From the National Resistance Front (NRF)

On 18 August 2021, three days after Kabul fell to the Taliban, I was on a phone call with NRF Commander Ahmad Massoud, son of the late Ahmad Shah Massoud, commander of our former, essential ally, the Northern Alliance. In a clear and steady voice, devoid of any drama or emotion, he said, “I just told my mother and my wife that I am staying here, I am fighting here, and I’m probably going to die here.” While the world has shifted its attention to Iran (and now also briefly to Cueta), he and the NRF are still fighting in Afghanistan today.

So, what’s the current situation? Ali Maisam Nazary, one of the founders of the NRF, and now the Head of Foreign Affairs for the NRF, joined us on the show this week to help answer that question.

1. The NRF base area, the rugged Panjshir Valley, which never fell to the Soviets, and which held out against the Taliban even after Kabul fell, eventually was penetrated when Pakistan…yes, our “ally” Pakistan, chose to militarily support the Taliban with CAS, artillery, SF, armor, infantry and combat engineers to breach into the main valley. Now, the Taliban controls the main valley (something they never had accomplished on their own), while the NRF withdrew its guerrilla units deeper into the more complex, supporting valleys…which they control.

2. The NRF has subsequently expanded its guerrilla ops to over 20 provinces across Afghanistan and is gaining support among multiple non-Pashtun groups…particularly among Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras and a minority of Pashtuns opposed to the Taliban. The NRF has conducted hundreds of raids, ambushes, and attacks across many of the central and northern provinces, including inside major cities, such as Kabul. It maintains robust intel source networks inside most, critical urban areas.

3. The NRF complements its military resistance to the Taliban with a political effort it leads to unite the many smaller, ethnic/minority resistance groups opposed to Taliban rule. The effort was initiated in Vienna in 2022 and is now known as the Vienna Process. Every Vienna Conference since then has seen growing participation. The primary goal is to establish coordinated political networks/structures to facilitate a swift transition government if and when the time arises. Although not yet an express goal of the participants, the potential to form an Afghanistan government in exile is also in quiet discussion.

4. At the same time, Pakistan (the Taliban’s historic, covert patron), is experiencing a growing Taliban threat of its own. The so-called Pakistani Taliban, aka Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), allied with both Al Qaeda and ISIS-Khorasan, initiated ops against Pakistan as early as 2007, but since the Afghan Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, the TTP has used Afghanistan as a sanctuary to train, equip, plan and launch operations inside Pakistan (and elsewhere). Since then, TTP attacks in Pakistan have increased significantly against military, government and civilian targets. In response, Pakistan now conducts airstrikes on TTP targets inside Afghanistan. What goes around comes around.

But why should Americans care?

1. The vacuum created by our hasty withdrawal of combat power has been filled, not only by Islamic terror groups, but also by Russian and Chinese assets. Bagram Airbase, for example, is strategically located between Russia, China and Pakistan, three nuclear nations, two of which are adversaries and a third that is being targeted by Islamist terror groups eager to gain control of Pakistani nuclear weapons. Immediately after we relinquished the airbase to the Taliban, the Taliban in turn invited in Russian and Chinese interests. Also, China is now developing the CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) as a bypass to its critical dependency on the Strait of Malacca to reach global, trading markets. The CPEC runs from China, along the Afghan/Pak border to the Port of Karachi on the Arabian Sea. A continuing US presence at Bagram would provide a ready capability to interdict this corridor if and when needed.

2. Of course, the loss of our small, US presence in Afghanistan means we also lost our primary ability to track, counter and disrupt the consolidation of global, Islamist terror groups inside the country. Although the USA has not incurred a terror strike originating from inside Afghanistan since the Taliban assumed control of the country in 2021, the potential is there and growing. ISIS-K, Al Qaeda, TTP, and other terror groups are exploiting the current sanctuary of Afghanistan to increase their numbers and readiness.

If you are interested in learning more about the NRF, I recommend visiting the Massoud Foundation USA and reading “In The Name of My Father,” by Ahmad Massoud: https://www.simonandschuster.com/…/Ahmad…/9781645720966 Ali and I discussed all of the above, as well as what the USA should do about the current sit, and more. Click on the link to hear a fascinating, on-the-ground discussion straight from the source: https://frontlinesoffreedom.com/show-971/