~ THE MAN WHO KEPT HOPE ALIVE ~ From 1996 to 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud was the only force standing in the way of total ISI Taliban & Al-Qaeda grim terrorist control over Afghanistan and expansion into Central Asia. He was the opposite (the antinomy) to Bin Laden's terrorism, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's viciousness and Mullah Omar's Taliban dark ages during a time when the world had almost forgotten about Afghanistan. He was just one man, but he was that one man who kept hope alive and still does so today through those who have been inspired by him. ~~~ Ahmad Shah Massoud became known as the "Lion of Panjshir" during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, leading resistance fighters in north-eastern Afghanistan. The Wall Street Journal eventually called him "the Afghan who won the Cold War". After the fall of the communist regime in Afghanistan, Massoud became minister of defense of the Islamic State of Afghanistan under the Peshawar Accords. The Taliban took power in Kabul in September 1996. In the following years more than one million people fled from Taliban and Al-Qaeda massacres. More than 400,000 people fled to the protection of Massoud who as of 1998 remained the only anti-Taliban resistance force inside Afghanistan. The National Geographic concluded: "The only thing standing in the way of future Taliban massacres is Ahmad Shah Massoud." From 1999 onwards Massoud became the only main leader of the United Front (known as Northern Alliance), which united members of all of Afghanistan's ethnicities and political backgrounds, to defend areas not under Taliban control and to oppose the Pakistani-backed Taliban regime. During the anti-Taliban resistance there were no human rights abuses by troops under the direct control of Massoud. Massoud repeatedly told the Taliban to join a peaceful political process with the ultimate goal of democratic elections, so the people of Afghanistan could choose their government for themselves. The Taliban refused. In early 2001, on a visit to Europe, Massoud warned about an unspecified attack on U.S. soil being imminent. Massoud was assassinated on September 9, 2001, two day before the attacks of September 11, 2001. Massoud was a deeply spiritual and religious person, reportedly always carrying Al-Ghazali's "Alchemy of Happiness" with him. He rejected the Taliban Deobandi and Saudi Wahhabi extremists interpretations of Islam. He was declared National Hero of Afghanistan in late 2001 and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.