Molts tadjiks van criticar Ahmad Zia Massoud per fer costat a Ghani en lloc del seu rival per a la presidència, Abdullah Abdullah, mig paixtu mig tadjik, qui fou un dels amics més propers d'Ahmad Shah Massoud abans que fos assassinat l'any 2001.
Many ethnic Tajiks criticised Ahmad Zia Massoud for siding with Ghani rather than his presidential rival Abdullah Abdullah, a half-Pashtun-half-Tajik who was one of the Ahmad Shah Massoud's closest friends before the latter's assassination in 2001.