Afghanistan Remembers Ahmed Shah Massoud

"As long as this man is alive, no victory is possible"

--Osama bin Laden

The anti-Taliban Afghan hero Ahmed Shah Massoud was remembered today by the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, Afghan government officials, and Massoud's former associates.

Afghans gathered in Kabul's stadium for a day of speeches and songs in Massoud's honor.

Massoud was murdered on September 9, 2001, just two days before 9-11, by Al Qaeda suicide bombers who exploded a camera while pretending to be newsmen who had come to interview him.

According to the United Front Military Forces:

"Ahmad Shah Massoud dedicated 23 years of his life as a resistance leader, first against the Soviet occupation, then the Taliban and international terrorism. He fought all oppressors in the hope that one day his country would be free.

Massoud was assassinated by international terrorists sent by Osama bin Laden on September 9, 2001.Two days later bin Laden's al-Qaida attacked America. Two weeks later the first American Green Berets landed their Black Hawk helicopters in Panshir, at the foot of Massoud's headquarters. From that moment on Afghanistan, and America, were inexorably tied in destiny as allies against terror.

Massoud was been declared by the Afghan Transitional Government of President Hamid Karzai as the National Hero of Afghanistan. He would never have accepted the award, or Karzai's government. He believed that there can be no peace with terrorists and oppressors. And, although he believed in the liberal application of Amnesty for his enemies, he would never have allowed them to return to government posts or determine the destiny of his country, which they had destroyed so completely."