In an interview with FRANCE 24, the son of slain Afghan resistance hero Ahmad Shah Massoud warned that the international community "should not recognise" the Taliban, two years after their return to power. Ahmad Massoud said that without "internal legitimacy, the international community should stop themselves from giving recognition to any group. Otherwise, every group can come [to power] through the barrel of a gun and try to get legitimacy".
Massoud, who heads the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan and was forced to flee Kabul in 2021, stressed that despite claims to the contrary, the Taliban have not changed and remain an extremist group.
Anyone who says the Taliban have changed "should be ashamed of themselves, because the Taliban proved they have not changed at all," he told FRANCE 24's Marc Perelman.
Massoud claimed that his group was fighting the Taliban in 12 of the country's 34 provinces, using guerrilla tactics since it lacks the resources to regain control of territories. He added that the Taliban had tried to kill him several times, which is why he did not wish to disclose his current location.
Deal agreed between US and Taliban 'was catastrophic'
He lashed out at the Trump administration for signing a deal with the Taliban without involving the Afghan government led by then-president Ashraf Ghani.
"The deal was a very bad deal. You cannot find one word in the agreement between America and the Taliban [about] women: there was no mention of women's rights, human rights, there was no mention of democracy or anything. So that deal was catastrophic."
In addition, Massoud blasted the Biden administration for its unilateral withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. "With these two massive and terrible decisions, they completely destroyed the opportunity for peace, they destroyed the balance of negotiations," he said.
Massoud also asserted that contrary to the Taliban's pledges made to the US that they would not harbour any terrorist groups, they are doing exactly that.
In conclusion, he warned that the international community "should not recognise" the Taliban, saying the group had no "internal legitimacy".
