20,000 Afghans mark anniversary of assassination

MORE than 20,000 Afghans gathered in Kabul yesterday to remember Northern Alliance military commander Ahmad Shah Masood, slain by al-Qaida operatives two days before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The ceremony at Kabul’s national stadium commemorated the third anniversary of Mr Masood’s

assassination and was held a day after campaigning began for Afghanistan’s first ever presidential election on October 9.

Mr Masood, known as the Lion of the Panjsher, was the military and political leader of the Northern Alliance, a coalition of factions that helped US-led forces overthrow the fundamentalist Taliban regime which sheltered Osama bin Laden and senior members of his al-Qaida network.

“The martyred Masood, the national hero of Afghanistan, is one of the most glittering and luminous figures of the jihad (holy struggle) and resistance,” President Hamid Karzai said in a speech at a crowded national stadium.

“He struggled with valour against invading forces for more than two decades.”

The alliance has gradually lost cohesion in the past three years since the

Taliban’s overthrow.

Some of its key leaders are arrayed against the US-backed Karzai for the presidential poll.

But other alliance heavyweights, including Masood’s brother Ahmad Zia

Masood, have thrown their lot behind Mr Karzai and accused challenger Yunus Qanuni of exploiting Mr Masood’s legacy to boost their campaigns.

Mr Qanuni is backed by Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim who succeeded Mr Masood as Northern Alliance commander. Mr Karzai’s decision to drop Mr Fahim from his ticket precipitated Mr Qanuni’s bid for the presidency.

Two Arabs, suspected to be members of al-Qaida, killed Masood on September 9, 2001, while posing as journalists.

Karzai’s government has declared Masood a national hero, although he is remembered less fondly by Pashtuns, Uzbeks and Hazaras than by his own Tajik ethnic group.