Masoud Khalili, also Massoud Khalili and Masud Khalili (; born 5 November 1950) is an Afghan diplomat, linguist and poet. Khalili is the son of the famous Persian language and Afghan poet laureate, Ustad Khalilullah Khalili. In the war against the Soviets from 1980 to 1990, he was the political head of the Jamiat-e Islami Party of Afghanistan and close advisor to Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. In the internal conflict that followed, he chose to be the Special Envoy in Pakistan to President Burhannudin Rabbani. Deported from the same country for his high rank in the Northern Alliance, he went to New Delhi in 1996 as the Ambassador of the Afghanistan (Anti-Taliban) where he stayed for many years. He was non-resident Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Nepal at the same time. On September 9, 2001, Khalili was sitting next to Ahmad Shah Massoud when two men posing as journalists set off a bomb placed in their camera. Massoud was assassinated and Khalili was severely injured but survived. Two days later, al-Qaeda attacked the U.S. After his recovery, he was made the ambassador of Afghanistan to Turkey and then the first Afghan ambassador to Spain. Early life and education Khalili is the son of the famous Persian language poet, and Persian poet laureate, Ustad Khalilullah Khalili. Born in Jabal Saraj, Parwan Province in Afghanistan, Massoud Khalili grew up in Kabul where his father taught at Kabul University. As a student he reportedly spent 5 years in India. Khalili got his BA in Delhi College and MA from Kirori Mal College in the 70s. Career Resistance against Soviet invasion Khalili was a friend and adviser to Ahmad Shah Massoud, resistance commander known as the "Lion of Panjshir" against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979–1989), defense minister of Afghanistan (1992–2001) and leader of the United Front (Northern Alliance) against the Taliban. Khalili and Massoud met for the first time in October 1978 after the communist Saur Revolution had overthrown the government of Mohammed Daoud Khan. Khalili remembers: "We talked about the past and the future. I was talking more, maybe because I was older, but I found out later that listening was his habit." Both men quickly discovered their shared interest for poetry. After the meeting Khalili went on to live in the United States for two years where his father, Ustad Khalilullah Khalili, was serving as the ambassador to the United States.