Commander Ahmed Shad Massoud, otherwise know as 'The Lion of Panjshir', at the first press ...

Commander Ahmed Shad Massoud, otherwise know as 'The Lion of Panjshir', at the first press conference announcing the Mujahideen victory in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and the collapse of the pro-Soviet Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA). In April 1992, the Mujahideen, various loosely-aligned Afghan opposition groups led by Massoud that had rebelled against the Soviet's and DRA, took control of Kabul and negotiated the creation of a government. At the conference, Massoud declared "Welcome to free and Islamic Afghanistan". As Defence minister in this government, Massoud later ordered a retreat from Kabul on September 26, 1996, after Taliban forces encircled the capital. He subsequently was a key figure in the formation of the 'Northern Alliance', an alliance of various political groups who later fought against Taliban rule in Afghanistan. A prominent moderate and later, as part of the Northern Alliance, a close ally of the USA, Massoud was assassinated on September 10, 2001 by the Taliban. In 2001, the Afghan Interim Government under president Hamid Karzai awarded Massoud the title of "Hero of the Afghan Nation" and declared the date of his death a national holiday.