“In a message [Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud’s emissary Abdullah] Abdullah read to a Senate hearing in October 1998, Massoud said that southern Central Asia was in turmoil: ‘Some countries are on the brink of war… Ethnic and religiously motivated mass murders and forced displacements are taking place, and the most basic human and women’s rights are being shamelessly violated. The country [Afghanistan] has gradually been occupied by fanatics, extremists, terrorists, nationalists, drug mafias, and professional murderers.’ Those facts were incontrovertible, as was his assertion that the Taliban were ‘unyielding and unwilling to talk or reach compromise with any other Afghan sides.’ Massoud listed his goals: to end the war, establish a just peace, set up a transitional administration, and move toward representative government. He urged the United States to engage in ‘constructive and substantive discussions with our representatives and all Afghans’ who sought peace and freedom.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Roy Gutman, How We Missed the Story, Pages 169-170