WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st July, 2023) The United States diverted its attention from Afghanistan to Ukraine and other places after the Taliban takeover in 2021 just like it did after September 11 when it reallocated resources to invade Iraq, National Resistance Front (NRF) of Afghanistan Leader Ahmad Massoud said during a virtual panel hosted by the Aspen Institute.
"Unfortunately, once again, the attention from Afghanistan has been diverted to Ukraine and different areas," Massoud said on Thursday.
Massoud compared the issue to the United States diverting most of its attention to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 after toppling the Taliban in Afghanistan following the events of September 11, 2001.
The Afghan resistance leader said they feel betrayed and left alone after the United States' chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Afghanistan, under the control of the Taliban, is now a safe haven for many terrorist groups that are "active," Massoud added.
The NRF is a military alliance of former Northern Alliance members and other anti-Taliban figures founded by Massoud, the son of legendary mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.
After Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's administration agreed to the Doha pact, Massoud began building up forces and by the summer of 2021 had assembled a coalition of militias in northern Afghanistan that he referred to as the "Second Resistance."
On October 12, 2021, about two months after the Taliban retook power, the NRF issued an official declaration condemning the new government in Kabul and denouncing Ghani for fleeing the country in a "national betrayal."
The NRF a month later registered as an official foreign lobbying group in the United States. However, the Biden administration has so far refused to entertain demands by some US lawmakers to recognize the NRF as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. The Taliban, for their part, have said any US support for the NRF would constitute a breach of the 2020 Doha agreement.
