AHMAD SHAH MAS’OOD HEALTH CONDITIONS DESCRIBED AS "WORRISOME"
By Safa Haeri
PARIS-ISLAMABAD 13 Sept (IPS) The fate and whereabouts of veteran Afghan
commander Ahmad Shah Mas’ood was still shrouded in mystery Thursday, four days
after being victim of a suicide assassination, with American and Russian sources
saying he was killed in the blast and Afghan sources close to him assuring that
he was alive, but receiving medical treatment in an undisclosed hospital.
"Ahmad Shah Mas’ood is currently in more critical condition compared with the previous days", the Northern Alliance Foreign Ministry Dr. Abdollah said Thursday, adding that his health condition had deteriorated in the past 24 hours, but doctors and the medical team say they hope he would recover soon.
His brother, Ahmad Wali, also confirmed this report and said Mas’ood was in "serious condition" and unconscious in a hospital in neighbouring Tajikistan.
Afghan sources blamed the explosion on the Saudi dissident Ossama Bin Laden in association with the Pakistan army’s secret services, as Mas’ood’s death, or even injuries, could have far-reaching consequences for the ongoing Afghan civil war, analysts said Monday.
But Golboddin Hekmatyar, a former Afghan Prime Minister and a foe of Mas'ood said
reports that Afghan opposition chief is still alive are false."Masood is indeed dead but his associates and comrades are giving false accounts of his physical state in order to keep up the spirits of the Northern Alliance fighters", the English-language daily
"Iran News" quoted Hekmatyar.But he gave no firm evidence apart from saying it was impossible for Masood to have survived Sunday's blast, believed to have been caused by a booby-trapped camera carried by two Arab suicide bombers posing as journalists at his base in northeastern Afghanistan.
They said the Taleban, who control already 90 per cent of the Afghan territory, could take advantage of Ahmad Shah’s absence to launch fresh attacks in the northeast or the Panjshir Valley, Mas’ood's traditional stronghold and support base.
The former Defence Minister of the ousted Rabbani government has been replaced by General Mohammad Fahim, Mas’ood’s chief intelligence commander, Afghan source confirmed Wednesday.
"There are conflicting reports about his condition. There are claims that he's been killed. We are not able to confirm any of them at this point'', US State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.
"We're sorry to see this attempt on the life of a key factional leader in Afghanistan. This could set back the search for a peaceful settlement of the decades-old war'', he added.
A report in the Russian news agency Irar-Tass, quoted unidentified sources in the Tajikistan capital Dushanbe as saying that Mr. Masood had died of his wounds. But other reports quote Afghan opposition sources as saying that he was recovering in hospital.
Informed Afghan sources told Iran Press Service that the charismatic commander was hospitalised somewhere in opposition-controlled northern Afghanistan or neighbouring Tajikistan, after two Arab men posing as journalists exploded a bomb during a meeting in his office in Khajeh Baha’oddin, Takhar Province, on Sunday.
"Ahmad Shah Masood is 100 percent alive and has received a visit from president Borhaneddin Rabbani and Mas’ood aide, General Fahim, his spokesman told the French news agency AFP late Monday.
According to the spokesman, the meeting between Mas’ood, Rabbani and and Fahim was held in a hospital in Afghanistan, but he did not specify the location.
Taleban denied Tuesday involvement in the attack on Mas’ood.
Mr. Latif Pedram, a respected Afghan journalist and intellectual based in Paris told IPS that the two Arab terrorists were linked to an Islamic centre in London, financed by Mr. Bin laden, America’s most wanted man.
He said the lethal device, powerful explosive hidden in a photo camera carried by one of the suicide bombers, killed in the explosion, was the work of Pakistan’s ISI experts.
The influential French daily "Le Monde" said Tuesday that the suicide killers were of Moroccan origin, carrying Belgian passports with Afghan entry visa delivered by Pakistan Embassy.
The veteran commander, who held the Red Army at bay for 10 years during the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, is famous for leading battles from the frontlines and holding the fragile opposition alliance together with deft diplomacy.
"His loss, even if just for a few weeks while he recovers in hospital, would be a major blow to the opposition as the summer fighting season nears its traditionally bloody close", Mr. Pedram commented, adding that the killers knew very well what Mas’ood represents for the anti-Taleban forces.
"Without Mas’ood's leadership, and the contacts he enjoys with allies among the international community, the opposition forces could be in serious danger of crumbling as it has several times before", analysts and experts noted.
"The loss of Ahmed Shah Mas’ood, dubbed as the "Lion of Panjshir", (meaning five lions), would push the balance, perhaps decisively, in the favour of the Taleban", one analyst commented.
Ex-communist general and Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostam, at various times over the past 10 years both an enemy and an ally of Mas’ood's, rejoined the alliance as recently as April after a period in exile in Turkey, following defeat at the hands of the Taleban.
In central Bamiyan province, the Shi’ite Hazara forces, led by the Iran-backed Hezb Wahdat, are the spearhead of resistance to the Taleban.
In the west, Eslma’il Khan, former Governor of Herat province that share borders with neighbouring Iran, returned from exile in Iran earlier this year and has begun small-scale attacks against Taleban forces in the area.
But most of the fighting this summer has been in Mas’ood's territory of Takhar province, where the Taleban has launched a series of failed attacks aimed at the strategic Farkhar Valley.
So far the opposition has held its lines, protecting Badakhshan, the last province under Mas’ood's total control in the far northeast, as well as his traditional stronghold in the Panjshir Valley nearer Kabul.
It is such an uncertain situation that countries wary of Afghanistan's Taleban met Thursday in an emergency meeting in Dushanbeh, bringing together representatives from Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, India and Uzbekistan.
There was no more information about the meeting. ENDS MASSOUD FATE 13901