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Ahmad Massoud: ‘Peace Does Not Mean to Surrender’

The leader of the Afghan anti-Taliban resistance vows to battle in the encircled Panjshir Valley to keep alive his father’s dream.

ODonnell-Lynne-foreign-policy-columnist
ODonnell-Lynne-foreign-policy-columnist
Lynne O’Donnell
By , a columnist at Foreign Policy and an Australian journalist and author.
Afghan men wave a flag above the portrait of late Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.
Afghan men wave a flag above the portrait of late Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.
Afghan men wave a flag above a portrait of late Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud (right) in the Paryan district of Panjshir province, Afghanistan, on Aug. 23. Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFP via Getty Images

Leaving Afghanistan

As the Taliban attempt to consolidate control over Afghanistan, history appears set to repeat itself. The Panjshir Valley, northeast of Kabul, remains the only part of the country not under the extremists’ control, though they have it largely surrounded, communications have been cut, and fierce fighting continues on its outskirts.

Lynne O’Donnell is a columnist at Foreign Policy and an Australian journalist and author. She was the Afghanistan bureau chief for Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press between 2009 and 2017.

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