It’s the spring of 1984, and Abdullah Anas, a passionate young Islamist, is sitting in a library in his hometown of Sidi Bel Abbès, in western Algeria. While browsing religious books, he comes across a fatwa by several influential Arab sheikhs regarding jihad. The fatwa addresses the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, declaring jihad in Afghanistan as a "fard 'ayn" (a personal obligation) for all Muslims. Anas notices the signature of prominent Islamists, including Abdullah Azzam, and from that moment begins his efforts to reach Afghanistan and take part in the jihad against the Soviets.
Abdullah Anas knows nothing about Afghanistan and is unsure how to get there from his home in North Africa to this country in Central Asia. A few months later, he sets off on a pilgrimage to Mecca. After performing the rituals of Safa and Marwa, Anas heads to the Zamzam well to drink the water, believed in Islamic tradition to be "the best water on Earth." Near the well, he notices a religious man with his wife and children drinking water. Recognizing the man from religious books and magazines, Anas recalls the fatwa about jihad in Afghanistan and approaches the religious figure, greeting him respectfully before asking, “Are you Abdullah Azzam?” The man replies, “Yes, I am Azzam.”
Abdullah Azzam, Abdullah Anas, Ahamdshah Masoud
Abdullah Azzam, an Islamist cleric known as the "Leader of the Arabs in the Soviet-Afghan War," had recently returned from Afghanistan to perform the pilgrimage. Azzam, a Jordanian citizen with a PhD in Islamic jurisprudence from Al-Azhar University in 1973, had taught in universities in Jordan and King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, gaining numerous followers in the Arab world. He had been a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan and, in 1980, traveled to Afghanistan, where he established the “Maktab al-Khidamat” (Services Bureau) to facilitate the entry of thousands of Arab Islamists into Afghanistan.
By the Zamzam well in Mecca, Anas tells Azzam that he read his fatwa on the obligation of jihad in Afghanistan but does not know how to get there. Azzam shows him the routes to Afghanistan, advising him to first reach Peshawar in Pakistan before entering Afghanistan.
Anas’s life changes dramatically after meeting Azzam in Mecca. He travels to Pakistan and, about two months after that encounter, arrives in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan to fight alongside the Mujahideen against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet Red Army. During his time in Afghanistan, Anas becomes one of Abdullah Azzam’s closest companions, and in 1990, he marries one of Azzam's daughters. In an exclusive interview with Independent Persian, Anas recalls staying in Afghanistan until 1992, when the government of Dr. Najibullah collapsed due to the Soviet Union's dissolution and attacks by the Mujahideen. He was alongside Ahmad Shah Massoud during those years.
Anas met most Afghan jihadist leaders and Arab fighters who traveled to Afghanistan, but he considers his acquaintance with Ahmad Shah Massoud and Abdullah Azzam as “divine blessings” in his life.
Among the more than two thousand Arab militants who traveled to Afghanistan for jihad, each had a different fate. One of them was Osama bin Laden, who, like Abdullah Anas, came to Afghanistan after reading Abdullah Azzam’s fatwa.
Osama, a member of “Maktab al-Khidamat” and one of Azzam's disciples, broke away from Azzam in late 1988 and, in collaboration with Ayman al-Zawahiri and other members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad group, founded the al-Qaeda network. Anas says he was a close friend of Osama and repeatedly warned him against creating a separate organization, but Osama advocated for “global jihad,” ultimately founding al-Qaeda to pursue his ideas. Anas considers his former friend Osama bin Laden’s ideology to be “takfiri” and says that during Massoud’s resistance against the Taliban, bin Laden summoned hundreds of young Arabs to Afghanistan to fight against Massoud.
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| Mukhtar Wafayee interviewing Abdullah Anas |
Anas adds that bin Laden told Arab youths that an Islamic state had been established in Afghanistan, but someone named Ahmad Shah Massoud was preventing its consolidation and had to be eliminated. This call by bin Laden led some Arab fighters to return to Afghanistan. Massoud was assassinated on September 9, 2001, by two Arab attackers affiliated with al-Qaeda at his command center in Takhar. However, the Islamic state envisioned by bin Laden collapsed just months after Massoud's death due to the U.S. invasion and the anti-Taliban forces.
First Meeting with Ahmad Shah Massoud
In 1984, Abdullah Anas, along with Zia-ur-Rahman and Abu Hussein, became some of the first Arab militants to travel from Peshawar to northern Afghanistan. Anas spent about eight months near Mazar-i-Sharif among the Mujahideen under the command of Abdul Qadir Zabihullah, fighting against the Afghan government and Soviet forces. During his time there, he noticed that Ahmad Shah Massoud’s name was more widely spoken than other jihadist commanders. Intrigued by Massoud's reputation, Anas decided to visit his base in Sultan Shera, a district in Takhār province. After asking his Afghan companions about Massoud, they told him that Massoud was in Takhār and commanded a large portion of the anti-Soviet forces in Panjshir and northern Afghanistan.
Anas expressed his desire to meet Massoud. The Afghan Mujahideen warned him that the journey would be difficult and dangerous because he would have to travel on foot through the provinces of Balkh, Samangan, and Baghlan. At that time, all cities were controlled by the Afghan government, and the Mujahideen were stationed in rural and mountainous areas. Anas walked for 15 days from Balkh to Ashkamish to meet Massoud.
Describing his first meeting with Massoud, Anas says: “I cannot express the social, political, or cultural feelings I had upon meeting the Commander, but spiritually and religiously, I can say that something happened in my heart. When I met Massoud, I felt a sense of attraction and peace. I felt secure and certain. Although I knew very little Persian at the time, I became convinced that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this man.”
After staying at Massoud’s front lines for a few days, Anas asked for permission to return to Mazar-i-Sharif. Massoud said, “No, brother, you cannot leave. You will stay here.” In front of his companions, Massoud joked, “We don’t have a shrine here, so we’ll bury this Arab here and make him a shrine for us.” Anas recalls this comment with a smile and says it reflects Massoud’s respect and belief in the Arabs.
From 1984 to 1992, Anas accompanied Ahmad Shah Massoud, traveling between the northern Afghan military fronts and Peshawar, the headquarters of Maktab al-Khidamat. In 1988, he told Abdullah Azzam, who was based in Peshawar: “You don’t know Afghanistan until you travel there and meet Ahmad Shah Massoud in person.”
Afterward, Azzam, accompanied by Burhanuddin Rabbani, leader of the Islamic Society, entered Afghanistan and spent a month at Massoud’s military front. Upon returning to Peshawar, Azzam wrote a book praising Massoud's military genius, organizational skills, and leadership. In his book, Azzam wrote of Massoud: "I found Ahmad Shah Massoud greater than Napoleon."
Nearly 30 years after Abdullah Azzam used the name of Napoleon to describe Ahmad Shah Massoud’s military genius, the renowned British researcher Sandy Gall wrote a book about Massoud’s life and titled it Napoleon of Afghanistan.
Abdullah Azzam was killed by a landmine explosion in Peshawar in November 1989, and Anas, who saw himself as Azzam’s son, took over the leadership of Maktab al-Khidamat. Anas remained with Massoud until the government of Dr. Najibullah collapsed in 1992, and Afghanistan descended into destructive civil war due to disputes over power-sharing among the Mujahideen. Anas describes his departure from Afghanistan: “In those days, when Kabul was engulfed in civil war, I left with a wound, a scar, and great sorrow in my heart. Commander Massoud said to me, ‘Look, our happiness and victory have turned into misery, but you are an Arab, you can return to Algeria, while I have a responsibility here to defend my people.’”
Anas says his jihad in Afghanistan ended with the fall of Dr. Najibullah’s government, and he chose not to participate in the Afghan civil war. After leaving Afghanistan, he remained in contact with Massoud, as his eight years in Afghanistan had forged a deep bond between him and the country. About 20 days before Massoud was killed, Anas spoke with him by phone. At the time of Massoud’s assassination by Arab attackers posing as journalists at his command center in Khwaja Bahauddin, Takhār province, Abdullah Anas was in London.
Abdullah Anas wrote about his experiences in the Afghan jihad, his acquaintance with Abdullah Azzam, and his friendship with Ahmad Shah Massoud in a book titled To the Mountains: My Life in Jihad, from Algeria to Afghanistan, published in English in early 2019 in London. He also wrote a book titled The Afghan Arabs, which focuses on the role of Arab Mujahideen in the Afghan jihad.
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