Ahmad Massoud Chides European States for Potential Deal with Taliban

February 20, 2025

Ahmad Massoud Chides European States for Potential Deal with Taliban

Ahmad Massoud, anti-Taliban opposition leader

On 20 February 2025 the Austrian paper Die Presse published an interview with Ahmad Massoud, head of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), who traveled to Vienna, Austria, to meet Afghan opposition groups for intra-Afghan talks concerning Afghanistan and the Taliban. The title of the interview is translated as "Afghanistan's opposition leader Massoud warns against refugee deal with Taliban: "This is a naive policy"".

Title of Massoud's interview with Die Presse in German

Massoud calls possible agreements between European governments and the Taliban ruling his country on the return of refugees "naive". Such agreements are "very short-term and a naive and weak policy", he told Austrian paper Die Presse on 20 February 2025.

According to the Afghan opposition leader, millions of refugees would return after the Taliban are ousted from Afghanistan. He compared negotiating with the Taliban to send "a handful of criminal migrants" as "like wanting to take headache pills for cancer". This would mean that Europe would give up all the values and promises that it wants to support democracy in Afghanistan.

According to Massoud, an international initiative for a new government in Afghanistan would make more sense. The Taliban's actions are a clear sign that the West's hopes for a more moderate Taliban rule after the Taliban took power in August 2021 were "completely wrong". With international support, counterforces within the Taliban could also be mobilized, Massoud emphasized.

Ahmad Massoud was recently in Austria for a conference of the Vienna Process for a Democratic Afghanistan. The process aims to draw up a roadmap for a democratic Afghanistan. (APA, February 20, 2025)

Part of the interview in English translation:

Die Presse: You and your men fought against the Islamist Taliban in the Panjshir Valley in northern Afghanistan until the last minute. The Taliban then managed to penetrate the valley with their superior numbers. Is there still military resistance now?

Ahmad Massoud: Yes, there is still resistance, and it is expanding.

Die Presse: Governments in Europe are now thinking about negotiating with the Taliban to conclude agreements to repatriate Afghan refugees. What do you think about that?

Ahmad Massoud: This is very short-term thinking and a naive and weak policy. I am really against people going to Europe. And Europeans should be tougher on migration. But they have to understand why people are fleeing Afghanistan. Europeans should help Afghans get their country back from the Taliban. Then millions of refugees will also go back. But they want to negotiate with the Taliban just so they can send back a handful of migrants with criminal backgrounds. That's like wanting to take headache pills for cancer. In doing so, Europe is giving up all the values and promises that it supports democracy in Afghanistan - and all the resolutions that the EU or the UN Security Council have passed on this. And in doing so, it is losing the trust of the Afghans. And all because of a few criminal refugees? How long will it take for these migrants to return to Europe?

(German original:

Die Presse: Sie und Ihre Männer haben bis zur letzten Minute im Panschir-Tal im Norden Afghanistans gegen die islamistischen Taliban gekämpft. Den Taliban ist es dann mit ihrer Übermacht gelungen, in das Tal einzudringen. Gibt es jetzt noch militärischen Widerstand?

Ahmad Massoud: Ja, es gibt noch Widerstand und er weitet sich aus.

Die Presse: Regierungen in Europa denken nun daran, mit den Taliban zu verhandeln, um Abkommen zur Rückführung afghanischer Flüchtlinge zu schließen. Was denken Sie darüber?

Ahmad Massoud: Das ist sehr kurzfristig gedacht und eine naive und schwache Politik. Ich bin wirklich dagegen, dass Menschen nach Europa gehen. Und die Europäer sollten bei Migration härter sein. Aber sie müssen verstehen, warum die Menschen aus Afghanistan flüchten. Die Europäer sollten dabei helfen, dass die Afghanen ihr Land von den Taliban zurückbekommen. Dann werden auch Millionen Flüchtlinge zurückgehen. Man will aber mit den Taliban verhandeln, nur damit man eine Handvoll Migranten mit kriminellem Background zurückschicken kann. Das ist, als ob man Kopfschmerztabletten gegen Krebs nehmen will. Damit gibt Europa all die Werte und Versprechen auf, dass man die Demokratie in Afghanistan unterstützt – und alle die Resolutionen, die die EU oder der UN-Sicherheitsrat dazu verabschiedet haben. Und verliert dabei das Vertrauen der Afghanen. Und alles wegen einiger krimineller Flüchtlinge? Wie lange wird es dauern, bis diese Migranten nach Europa zurückkehren?)

In his interview with Die Presse, Massoud also mentioned the consequences of an arrangement with the Taliban for Europe's security situation: "As the Taliban rule, the danger of terrorism also grows. They educate men in jihadism in their schools." (German original: "Mit der Herrschaft der Taliban wächst auch die Gefahr des Terrorismus. Sie erziehen Männer in ihren Schulen zum Jihadismus.")

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