Anti-Taliban Opposition in Vienna

As previously announced, the fifth round of a meeting of opposition groups, known as the 'Vienna Process for a Democratic Afghanistan' or in short Vienna Conference, began. The meeting started on 16 February 2025, bringing together key anti-Taliban figures. Ninety representatives from Afghanistan’s political, military, and civil society groups are expected to attend the two-day conference, of whom the most prominent is Ahmad Massoud, leader of the National Resistance Front (NRF). The goal of the conference is to create political alternatives for Afghanistan’s future beyond the Taliban.

Anti-Taliban Opposition in Vienna - 16 February 2025

Ahmad Massoud, leader of the National Resistance Front (NRF), said on Tuesday that a comprehensive plan for Afghanistan’s future has been finalized.

Speaking at the fifth round of the Vienna Conference on Afghanistan, held in Austria, Ahmad Massoud stated: “We must refer to the plan that we have prepared through collaboration and agreement. It is not as if we lack a vision or program. Our plan is not designed for an individual, a specific group, or an ethnic community—it is for Afghanistan’s future.”

Among the participants was also famous General Mohammad Yasin Zia, an Afghan military officer and politician. He is a former Chief of General Staff (7 July 2020 - 19 June 2021), former Deputy Defense Minister (27 March 2019 - 7 July 2020) and former Defense Minister (19 March 2021 - 19 June 2021) and former Deputy National Security Adviser (December 2017 - March 2019) of Afghanistan. He is also former governor of Takhar Province in Afghanistan. Zia has also served as head of Afghanistan's counter terrorism unit (2011) and as the deputy director of the National Directorate of Security (2011-2015). Currently he is one of the leaders of the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF).

Yasin Zia in Vienna, Austria - 18 February 2025

Yasin Zia said in his speech during that meeting: “We are not just fighting the Taliban—we are standing against terrorism. There is no such thing as good or bad terrorism, and this struggle will not end until Afghanistan is free of it,”

Zia emphasized that the Taliban’s rule has allowed terrorist groups to thrive, posing a threat not only to Afghanistan but to regional and global security. Zia also took aim at the Taliban’s economic interests, suggesting that financial considerations dictate their actions: “The Taliban scramble wherever financial interests are involved—one leader runs in one direction, another rushes to a different country to keep the flow of money intact."

He also criticized Afghans who are lobbying for the Taliban in the West. He said that they were being paid to lobby for the Taliban, as someone with a clear conscience wouldn't lobby for that terrorist group.

The Afghanistan Freedom Front (Dari: Jabhaye Azadi), led by Yasin Zia, and the National Resistance Front (Dari: Jabhaye Moqawamat), led Ahmad Massoud, are the only military groups fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The presence of these two figures together shows that the military fronts opposing the Taliban are trying to achieve unity of opinion and thought and, at least theoretically, have a common strategy for fighting the Taliban. Although representatives of the Afghan Freedom Front had previously attended the Vienna Process meeting, this was the first time that the leader of this front personally attended the meeting. The Afghan Freedom Front was formed after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, and its members are mainly former Afghan commanders and soldiers. Therefore, although these two fronts fight and struggle against the same group, they are ideologically different. However, despite this ideological difference, their unity can be effective in their struggle against the Taliban and strengthen their performance on the battlefield.