A Rebel's Last Yell.(Ahmed Shah Massoud)(Interview)

Ahmed Shah Massoud, the charismatic resistance fighter and head of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, might have played a key role in any U.S. assault on the Taliban regime. But earlier this month two suicidal assassins posing as journalists--and now suspected of working for Osama bin Laden--murdered Massoud with a bomb hidden in a television camera. Only a few days before, NEWSWEEK's Antonia Francis met with Massoud in a large reception room--the same one in which he was killed--at a compound near the town of Khodja Bahauddin. Excerpts:

FRANCIS: Has there been a change in U.S. policy toward the Northern Alliance, and do you want military aid?

MASSOUD: The Taliban are not a force to be considered invincible. They are distanced from the people now. They are weaker than in the past. Only the assistance given by Pakistan, Osama bin Laden and other extremist groups keeps the Taliban on their feet. With a halt to that assistance, it would be extremely difficult [for them] to survive. We hope that the future policy of the United States will exert pressure on Pakistan and also help Afghanistan achieve peace. That would be much more effective than giving [us] weapons or ammunition.

Would you extradite bin Laden?

We do not support any form of terrorism, including [bin Laden's network] Al Qaeda.

How does Pakistan influence the Taliban?

In order to control Afghanistan effectively they do not want to control Afghanistan as a [normal] state or a government. Instead the aim is to reduce Afghanistan to a tribal system in which each ethnic group is dependent upon Pakistan. It is again the old method of divide and rule. A good example: it has been a long time since the emergence of the Taliban but ...