WI: Ahmad Shah Massoud Survives

On September 9, 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud one of the most prominent Afghan rebel leaders who had fought the Soviets and the Taliban was killed when 3 Tunisian Al-Qaeda agents detonated a camera they had set up to interview him. The assassins had been waiting for 3 weeks to interview him and it almost didn't happen. They issued an ultimatum and Massoud accepted it.

But what if the interview doesn't happen and Massoud is not killed? The WTC 9/11 attacks almost surely still happen and NATO will probably attack Afghanistan. But Massoud will be there in the north. What are possible changes in the outcome of the postwar if Massoud survives? AFAIK he was committed to democracy for Afghanistan and would fight anyone (especially Pakistan) who stood in his way of achieving it.
 
On September 9, 2001, Ahmad Shah Massoud one of the most prominent Afghan rebel leaders who had fought the Soviets and the Taliban was killed when 3 Tunisian Al-Qaeda agents detonated a camera they had set up to interview him. The assassins had been waiting for 3 weeks to interview him and it almost didn't happen. They issued an ultimatum and Massoud accepted it.

But what if the interview doesn't happen and Massoud is not killed? The WTC 9/11 attacks almost surely still happen and NATO will probably attack Afghanistan. But Massoud will be there in the north. What are possible changes in the outcome of the postwar if Massoud survives? AFAIK he was committed to democracy for Afghanistan and would fight anyone (especially Pakistan) who stood in his way of achieving it.

He probably would've been selected among the preferred candidates for President of Afghanistan if not a high government post.
 
It's not impossible that his death was the trigger for 9/11. Which is to say why they did it that particular day, not that they would have stopped the plot. Without it the attacks could easily have been delayed at least a couple days, which might alter the casualty figures, people on the plane, relative schedule of the plane that the team that was on OTL's Flight 93 and the other flights.

(And if not for the coincidence connecting the date and the emergency number, the attacks might be remembered by some other name.)
 
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