During the late 1990s, Russia backed anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan, including the Northern Alliance led by former mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.

In 1989, he crossed over to Pakistan, where he trained with Afghan warlords. He even took part in fighting in Afghanistan, alongside the Taliban, against Ahmad Shah Massoud's Northern Alliance.

Rapid desertions from the Pashtun militia aligned with Ahmad Shah Massoud for the defense of Kabul, the failure of Abdul Rashid Dostum to switch sides from the Taliban into the Massoud camp ...

In the 1980s, disguised in Afghan clothes and living on sardines and goat meat, he ventured deep into Panjshir to interview Ahmad Shah Massoud. The suffering he witnessed there moved him profoundly.