“No entity could receive legitimacy without the support and backing of Excellency Ahmad Massoud, because today it is the source of legitimacy,” said Ali Nazary, who represents Mr. Massoud in the United States.
Mr. Massoud, the 32-year-old son of a legendary Mujahideen commander who led the fight against repeated Soviet offensives in the 1980s, leads the Taliban resistance from the same valley from which his father operated.
But the fight is likely, with resistance fighters surrounded by the Taliban and armed with dwindling supplies and no visible outside support. Although Massoud has tried to position himself as the leader of the anti-Taliban battle, Amrullah Saleh, who was the vice president of the overthrown government and was a former director of the National Security Directorate and a former associate of the former Massoud, the last month he was proclaimed legitimate president of Afghanistan.
Nazary said “we are asking the United States to provide material support for our efforts, which will include sending offensive weapons,” and not to recognize the Taliban.
Understand the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan
Who are the Taliban? The Taliban emerged in 1994 amid the turmoil that followed the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989. They used brutal public punishment, including flogging, amputations and mass executions, to enforce their rules. Here is more information about its origin history and its history of rulers.
Mr Nazary, who was involved in concluding the contract with Mr Stryk, said he was chosen because he was not part of the “establishment in DC”, which Nazary accused of appeasing the Taliban. He added that Mr Stryk “really believes in us and the Afghan people, no matter how much it affects their reputation”.
Although Stryk has worked with Democratic lobbyists during the Biden administration, it is unclear to what extent his connections to President Biden’s national security apparatus, nor what he intends to do specifically to gain support for Mr. Massoud.
Stryk has represented a number of clients facing serious legal and public relations issues, including Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of the former Angolan president accused of embezzling millions of dollars from a state-owned oil company he once ran. . And he had represented the government of former Congolese President Joseph Kabila, who had faced US sanctions for human rights violations and corruption, as well as the administration of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, whom the United States considers illegal. legitimate, and testified in the Russian Investigation that last year pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and sexually trafficking a minor.