Remembering the 'Lion of Panjshir' - Features - Al Jazeera English

Remembering the 'Lion of Panjshir' - Features - Al Jazeera English

Remembering the 'Lion of Panjshir'

Ahmad Shah Massoud, who brazenly fought the Soviet Red Army and Taliban, is now regarded as a national hero by Afghans. Ali M Latifi and Qais Azimy Last Modified: 09 Sep 2012 16:28 Kabul, Afghanistan - A week-long commemoration is underway in Afghanistan marking the life of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Tajik guerrilla leader who led a poorly equipped force that helped humble a superpower. Known as the "Lion of Panjshir" due to his fierce resistance to Soviet attacks, Massoud was killed 11 years ago on September 9 by al-Qaeda assassins posing as journalists.  In his mid-20s when Red Army marched into Afghanistan, Massoud organised resistance from the northern Panjshir Valley, and relentlessly attacked the Soviets' vital supply line along the Salang Pass.  He quickly became a thorn in the Russians' side, and they retaliated with large-scale offensives. But his outnumbered and outgunned fighters repeatedly repulsed the onslaughts.    After helping defeat the Soviets, Massoud fought against the Taliban and al-Qaeda as the leader of the Northern Alliance, cementing his reputation as a deft military strategist.  Today, his image inundates the Afghan capital: A billboard atop a mountain overlooks Kabul, in a square at one of its busiest intersections, and a giant portrait graces the exterior of Kabul airport's arrivals terminal. Countless Massoud photographs are found in the cars, homes and businesses of the city's residents.  President Hamid Karzai has deemed Massoud a "national hero of Afghanistan", and the anniversary of his death has become known as "Martyr's Week". Omar Samad, an Afghanistan expert at the US Institute of Peace, said the pervasiveness of Massoud's image is in contradiction to the humility he exhibited in life.  "Ironically, as a modest person ... he did not like to be called a 'hero' or even have his pictures displayed," Samad told Al Jazeera.  Not a saint Massoud's heroic status, however, is as much a government orchestration as it is popular sentiment, and rivals challenge his reputation as Afghanistan's best-known mujahidin fighter.