The National Resistance Front (NRF)[a] is a military organization of Afghan resistance fighters opposed to the Taliban. The group was founded by Ahmad Massoud following the fall of Kabul in August 2021 and began the republican insurgency in Afghanistan. It has been regarded as a successor to the historic anti-Taliban Northern Alliance military resistance resistance (1996–2001).
The NRF exercised de facto control over the Panjshir Valley and was the only region out of the Taliban's control until September 2021 when the Taliban seized Panjshir, forcing NRF fighters to retreat while Massoud subsequently fled to neighboring Tajikistan. From there, he has been leading NRF operations inside Tajikistan and working to gain support from the international community. Nevertheless, the NRF continues to carry out hit and run guerrilla attacks in Afghanistan against the Taliban regime.
In July 2021, during the 2021 Taliban offensive, the remnants of the Northern Alliance began mobilizing under an umbrella.[29][30]
On 9 September, the NRF announced that a parallel government will be created in response to the Taliban's formation of its government in Kabul.[31]
On 1 November, it was reported that the NRF has opened a liaison office in Washington, D.C. after being registered with the US Justice Department in order to carry out lobbying missions to various politicians working in the city.[32]
On 23 November, Sibghatullah Ahmadi was appointed as the new spokesman of the NRF. The position was previously held by Muhammad Fahim Dashti, who was killed during the Taliban offensive into Panjshir on 5 September.[33] Ahmadi served in this capacity until his resignation in April 2023.[34][4]
On 1 September 2024, Ahmad Massoud claimed in an interview that the NRF has 5,000 fighters.[8]
As of 17 August, the Panjshir Valley was—according to one observer—"under siege on all sides" but had not come under direct attack.[41] Ahmad Massoud wrote in an op-ed to The Washington Post on 18 August 2021, calling for the rest of the world to help them, as he admits that ammunition and supplies will run out unless Panjshir can be supplied.[42] Massoud also stated his desire to negotiate with the Taliban.[43] The resistance called for an "inclusive government" of Afghanistan;[40] one of their objectives was speculated to be a stake in the new Afghan government.[18] However, Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban's leader, has effectively ruled out an inclusive government.[44]Ali Maisam Nazary, head of foreign relations for the resistance,[45] said that the Taliban were overstretched after they seized control of Kabul.[46]
On 17 August 2021, ethnic Tajik former soldiers of the Afghan National Army began to arrive in the Panjshir valley, with tanks and personnel carriers in support of the resistance.[47][48] They regrouped in Andarab District after they escaped from elsewhere in Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan, and Kunduz, before moving to the safety of Panjshir.[48]
According to unconfirmed reports, Saleh's command managed to recapture Charikar, the provincial capital of Parwan Province, which had been held by the Taliban since 15 August, and that fighting had begun in Panjshir.[49][50] At around the same time, unconfirmed reports stated that remnants of the Afghan National Army had begun massing in the Panjshir Valley at the urging of Massoud, along with the Minister of Defense Bismillah Mohammadi and provincial commanders.[18][51][37] Local civilians also responded to his calls to be mobilized.[52]
Tasnim reporter interviewing resistance fighter, 11 September 2021
The Panjshir resistance also claimed to have the support of Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Muhammad Nur on 18 August 2021, while it was reported that members of Dostum's group, which had retreated into Uzbekistan, said that 10,000 of their soldiers could join forces with the Panjshir resistance, creating a combined force of 15,000 or more.[49][53] On the same day, Afghan Embassy employees in Tajikistan have replaced photos of Ghani in the embassy building with those of Saleh.[54]
According to anonymous ex-American and British soldiers, some of whom were formerly Afghan-based contractors, numerous Afghans living/working abroad have been working together to raise money in order to assist the Panjshir-based fighters.[55]
On 6 September 2021, the Taliban claimed victory in controlling the province. The NRF, however, denied the Taliban victory, stating they continued to hold positions across the valley.[56] Since then, the NRF has not controlled any territory but has continued to carry out hit and run guerrilla attacks.[57]
Baghlan
On 20 August 2021, a group of anti-Taliban forces was organised in Baghlan Province, headed by Abdul Hamid Dadgar.[58] The group took over the Andarab, Pul-e-Hesar and De Salah districts of Baghlan Province, killing or injuring 60 Taliban fighters as they did so. In the mid-afternoon, unconfirmed reports from Panjshir stated that Pul-e-Hesar was taken back from the Taliban, and that fighting was still raging in De Salah and Banu, with a reporter with Iran International reporting soon after that first Andarab and then De Salah fell to the resistance.[59]
According to Sediqullah Shuja, a former member of the Afghan National Security Forces, the reasons for the removal of the Taliban from the Andarab valley towns was the Taliban's searching of private houses, which was perceived as a violation of the agreement by which the Taliban had been allowed to take military control of the towns.[52] Shuja stated that the Taliban entered houses "and harassed people. In our villages, people are very traditional and Muslim.[52] There is no reason for Taliban to come and teach us about Islam." Former Baghlan prison commander Abdul Rahman stated that "All people of the valley have risen up against the Taliban. We are not afraid of Taliban fighters."[52]
On 16 September 2022, Ahmad Massoud urged fellow Afghans living overseas to work together to find a way to end Taliban rule and bring them back to negotiations.[63] On 30 November – 1 December 2022, Karen Decker, charge d'affaires of the U.S. mission to Afghanistan, attended a meeting with anti-Taliban figures in Tajikistan.[64] In 2023, former Afghan military officials opened the office of Afghanistan United Front in the United States and Sami Sadat, a former Afghan general, asked for U.S. help during a hearing with the U.S. House of Representatives.[65]
According to Luke Coffey of the Hudson Institute, the NRF depends on arms they have stockpiled or acquired from corrupt Taliban personnel.[67]
Foreign support
Iran
Since 2021, some sources have claimed that Iran has provided economic and military assistance to the NRF as a counterweight to the Islamic Emirate. Anti-Taliban commanders of the NRF like Ahmad Massoud and Amrullah Saleh have been hosted in Iran.[13][14] However, since the re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate, Iran has been strengthening its ties with the Taliban and has declared its not support for anti-Taliban militias in Afghanistan.[68]
Since 2024, following Pakistan's fall with the Taliban, several sources have asserted that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) established covert relations with the NRF.[69] Analysts asserted Pakistan may have been backing the NRF as payback for the Taliban backing the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).[70]
Tajikistan, which has officially designated the Taliban as a terrorist organization since 2021,[73] has been accused to be the main supporter of the NRF.[74][75]
Analysis
Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov labeled the resistance as "doomed" and that the resistance would fail. Zhirnov further stated that Saleh's proclamation of caretaker president is unconstitutional and added that they have "no military prospects".[76] Zhirnov also stated his plans to mediate talks between the Resistance and the Taliban.[77]
According to The Economist, the resistance's cause looked "forlorn".[78]The Independent mentions concerns that the fighters in Panjshir are likely to be outmatched as Taliban fighters have captured or acquired western-made military weapons and equipment with artillery and aircraft during the offensive.[55]
An anonymous Afghan journalist said that the group needs to start making plans for a drawn-out resistance against the Taliban if they are to hold Panjshir.[79] Analyst Bill Roggio also argued that the Panjshir resistance's "prospects are bleak", although their base was well-defendable, and Saleh could rely on a wide network of potential supporters across the entire country.[48] Afghan specialist Gilles Dorronsoro from Sorbonne University said that Taliban forces could enforce a lockdown on Panjshir, since it was not a major threat.[80] There was also a concern with Saleh and Massoud coming from different political backgrounds, with the latter not having the same level of charisma as his father, even though both oppose the Taliban.[80] Kim Sengupta said that support for the resistance would depend on how unpopular the Taliban were and how far people would be willing to stand up against them despite the Taliban's insistence that they would not allow their fighters to persecute people who had worked with the previous government or with NATO-led forces.[55]
David Loyn suggested that the resistance had a better chance of gaining more support from Afghans of other ethnic groups resisting the Taliban if Saleh were seen as the head of a broad coalition rather than only representing Tajiks.[81] Loyn said that the rest of the world might have a reason not to recognize the Taliban if the fighters continued to face the Taliban and recapture territory.[81]
Foreign Policy stated that there are generations of Afghans who had not previously experienced life under Taliban rule and were likely to resist.[82] They stated that if the Taliban continued to target persons with links to the former government, then support for resistance would grow, but that support would drop if a future government included Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah.[82]
Kaweh Kerami warned that if the Taliban were able to defeat the Panjshir fighters, then they would be able to roll back the gains[clarification needed] made by the international community in developing Afghanistan. He also said that there would be resistance if the Taliban's ideas on an inclusive government meant the inclusion of a few "weak" politicians from previous government administrations.[83]
↑ "Pakistan's Strategic Leverage and Afghanistan's Pinpoints". Modern Diplomacy.eu. 1 January 2025. The Pakistani military and intelligence agencies maintain extensive networks within Afghanistan and the Afghan diaspora, which they leverage to support resistance movements opposed to the Taliban. Groups such as the National Resistance Front (NRF), which challenge the Taliban's authority in various parts of the country, often look to Pakistan for support in their efforts.
↑ "Pakistan's Afghan dilemma: Bad options, worse outcomes". ORF Online. Pakistani media handles, believed to be acting as mouthpieces of the Pakistan Army, declared that the ISI was now engaging rag-tag Afghan resistance groups based in Tajikistan, like the National Resistance Front (NRF). They pointed to the sudden increase in activity of the NRF and other anti-Taliban groups in Afghanistan, hinting that this was, in part, because Pakistan had started backing these groups as payback for the Taliban backing the TTP.
↑ "Afghanistan: The 'undefeated' Panjshir Valley - an hour from Kabul". BBC News. 26 August 2021. Archived from the original on 14 March 2023. "The Red Army, with its might, was unable to defeat us... And the Taliban also 25 years ago... they tried to take over the valley and they failed, they faced a crushing defeat," Ali Nazary, the NRF's head of foreign relations, told the BBC.
↑ "Operations". National Resistance Front: Fighting for a Free Afghanistan. The National Resistance Front. Archived from the original on 20 August 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
↑ "Pakistan's Strategic Leverage and Afghanistan's Pinpoints". Modern Diplomacy.eu. 1 January 2025. The Pakistani military and intelligence agencies maintain extensive networks within Afghanistan and the Afghan diaspora, which they leverage to support resistance movements opposed to the Taliban. Groups such as the National Resistance Front (NRF), which challenge the Taliban's authority in various parts of the country, often look to Pakistan for support in their efforts.
↑ "Pakistan's Afghan dilemma: Bad options, worse outcomes". ORF Online. Pakistani media handles, believed to be acting as mouthpieces of the Pakistan Army, declared that the ISI was now engaging rag-tag Afghan resistance groups based in Tajikistan, like the National Resistance Front (NRF). They pointed to the sudden increase in activity of the NRF and other anti-Taliban groups in Afghanistan, hinting that this was, in part, because Pakistan had started backing these groups as payback for the Taliban backing the TTP.
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