Ahmad Massoud, son of the legendary Commandant Massoud and commander in chief of the afghan resistance in Panjshir, transmitted this text to La Règle du Jeu.
People of Afghanistan, Mujahideen brothers, friends of freedom throughout the world,
Tyranny is triumphant in Afghanistan.
Subjugation is closing in with sound and fury.
Vengeance is unfurling across our wounded land.
Kabul is groaning.
Our homeland is in irons.
Is all lost?
No.
My father, Commander Massoud, our national hero, bequeathed to me a legacy : and that legacy is to fight for Afghans’ freedom.
That fight is now irreversibly mine.
My companions in arms and I are ready to give our blood.
We call on all free Afghans, all those who reject servitude, to join our bastion of Panjshir, the last free region in our tormented land.
To Afghans of all regions and tribes, I say: do fight with us!
To Afghans living outside our borders but holding Afghanistan close to your hearts, i say: know that you have fellow countrymen, here in Panjshir, who have not given up.
To the many others—in France, Europe, America, the Arab world, elsewhere—who have helped us in our struggle for freedom, first against the Soviets and then against the Taliban 20 years ago, I ask: Will you, dear friends in freedom, assist us once more, as in the past? Despite the betrayal of some, we still have confidence in you.
We Afghans find ourselves in the situation of Europe in 1940.
Except in Panjshir, the debacle is near total, and the spirit of collaboration with the Taliban is spreading among the vanquished, who lost this war by their own failings.
Only we remain standing.
And we will never yield.
To a French writer friend, on the eve of the fall of Kabul, I was quoting Winston Churchill’s phrase promising blood, toil, tears, and sweat.
Today I think of what General de Gaulle said after the rout of french army: France has lost a battle but not the war.
We Afghans have not even lost a battle, since Kabul did not fight.
Here in Panjshir, Mujahideen young and old have taken up arms.
Join us in spirit or through direct support.
Friends of freedom, gather in the greatest possible numbers by our side.
Together we will write a new page in the story of Afghanistan.
It will be a new chapter in the eternal resistance of the oppressed against tyranny.
With God’s help, we will prevail.