Five months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Afghan resistance commander Ahmad Shah Massoud warned the western world that Al Qaeda was planning something big.

But no one took him seriously.

And just two days before they committed the most lethal terrorist attack in history, Al Qaeda assassinated Massoud too.

But in the carnage that followed, the world barely noticed.

• Host: Aslan Pahari
• Producer: Hannah Jose
• Audio Engineer: John Jacobs
• Video Producer: Tejas Bhat
• Special thanks: Michael Osmond for archives research
• Supervising Producer: Kyla Slaven
• Executive Producers: Joel Werner, Eric George, Jessica Radburn

To binge even more great episodes of ASSASSINS with Aslan Pahari go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you'll find more stories of the world's most shocking assassinations — from the lone wolf hitman to the professional assassin, you'll hear how famous figures like Abraham Lincoln, Benazir Bhutto, Ramses III, Tupac and Gandhi met their end.