Ahmad Massoud

Ahmad Massoud (born 10 July 1989) is an Afghan militant and milita leader who is the founder and leader of the resistance group National Resistance Front (NRF) since 2021. He is the eldest child and only son of military commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. Born to a Tajik Sunni Muslim family, Massoud was trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He launched his political movement in September 2019 opposing President Ashraf Ghani. Massoud was a staunch critic of the Afghan peace process between the Taliban and the United States, correctly predicting that it would result in the overthrow of the Islamic Republic by the Taliban in the future. After the fall of Kabul in 2021, Massoud formed the NRF in Panjshir and initiated the republican insurgency against the Taliban. After the Taliban seized control of Panjshir, Massoud evacuated towards Tajikistan and later relocated to France where he continues to lead NRF political activities. A supporter of a decentralized Afghanistan, Massoud is considered the leading Afghan opposition figure to the Taliban. He has participated in several conferences in working towards a democratic state in Afghanistan and bringing together leading Afghan anti-Taliban leaders, women's rights activists, and civil society representatives.