Ahmad Massoud and Ali Nazary on Standing up for Freedom

Introducer
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Ali Nazary currently the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan’s Foreign Relations Head and senior advisor to Ahmad Massoud. He is also a historian and researcher. His main areas of focus is the history of Islam, history of Central Asia and South Asia. Nationalism, nation-building and ethnic conflict are other research interests that he has. Ali double majored in Political Science and Iranian Studies at UCLA and graduated with Cum Laude in 2012. He was also a research assistant at UCLA’s Political Science Department during his last year there. Afterwards, he attended the London School of Economics for his Master’s degree and was awarded a Master’s degree in Comparative Politics (Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict) in 2013. The dissertation topic for Ali’s graduate degree was The Role of Ethnic Politics in Afghanistan, from 1978-2001. In late 2013 he joined Dr. Abdullah Abdullah’s presidential campaign as Deputy Director of Media Affairs and confidential advisor.

Since 2014, he has actively been involved in Afghanistan’s politics and simultaneously was a board member and a director at the Massoud Foundation, a charitable organization. He did extensive lobbying in the United States and Europe for many from Afghanistan. In 2018, Ali joined Ahmad Massoud’s political efforts to start a grassroots movement to prevent the collapse of the Republic in Afghanistan and in August 2021 with Mr. Massoud, founded the National Resistance Front and was appointed as its head of foreign relations.


Speaker
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Ahmad Massoud is the leader of the National Resistance Front (NRF) of Afghanistan. Mr. Massoud, the son of the late anti-soviet and revolutionary commander, Ahmad Shah Massoud, was born in July 1989 in Piyu, a small village in the Province of Takhar in Northeast Afghanistan. Ahmad's family moved frequently, primarily due to his father's work, so his childhood saw him constantly move locations of residence. After the assassination of his father in 2001, Ahmad and his family settled in Iran where he finished high school before moving to England to complete his higher education. Ahmad received his bachelor’s degree in War Studies from Kings College London and his master’s degree in International Politics from City, University of London.

After completing his education, Ahmad returned to Afghanistan in the pursuit of both understanding the plight of the Afghan people as well as helping them in whatever way he could. Upon his return, Ahmad became the CEO of Massoud Foundation- a nonprofit organization that provided funds to libraries and scholarships to top students across Afghanistan.

In 2019, Ahmad officially entered politics and started his political movement with his father’s followers declaring him as the successor of the late Ahmad Shah Massoud. He continued expanding his movement and frequently appeared in the media discussing his vision for the future of the country. He advocated for his father's Swiss model of governance emphasizing the importance of decentralization and de-concentration of power in bringing long lasting peace and prosperity. Following the Taliban's takeover on August 15, 2021, Ahmad created the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan to fight for liberty and freedom. The NRF is predominantly made up of former Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) who have declared their allegiance to Ahmad Massoud.

The NRF exercises de facto control over the Panjshir Valley, which is largely contiguous with Panjshir Province and, as of August 2021, is "the only region out of the Taliban's hands." It is also the only prominent anti-Taliban insurgency claiming to have over a few thousand armed fighters. According to NRF's strategy, the resistance fights for a democratic, decentralized Afghanistan where all citizens enjoy equal rights regardless of their ethnicity, and gender.