(Kabul) The Taliban announced on Monday that they have surrounded the fighters of the self-proclaimed resistance to their authority in Panjshir, a landlocked province northeast of Kabul, adding that it wants to negotiate with them rather than fight.
Unconfirmed news reported, during the night, clashes on the outskirts of the Panjshir Valley, where the deputy head of the regime toppled by the Taliban, Amrullah Saleh, took refuge and declared resistance to the country’s new masters.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced on Twitter that “our fighters are stationed near the Panshir district” they are besieging, adding that his approach is “trying to resolve this matter by peaceful means”.
And Protaleban’s Twitter accounts announced, Sunday, that “hundreds” of its fighters were heading towards the Panjshir.
Pro-resistance accounts on social media denied any progress by the Taliban, claiming it was stopped by Taliban ambushes.
It is still difficult to independently confirm these announcements and information, as the area has become landlocked and very inaccessible these days.
Panjshir has long been known as an anti-Italian stronghold. Resistance resumed there in recent weeks, as the Taliban ended control of the rest of the country, around the National Resistance Front, led by Ahmed Massoud, son of commander Ahmed Shah Massoud, who was assassinated in 2001 by al-Qaeda. God’s command is good.
Photo by Mohamed Ismail/Reuters
The son of the leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, who was assassinated in 2001 by Al-Qaeda, Ahmed Massoud
The main entrance to the valley is a narrow gorge which makes its conquest very difficult by outside forces, at the mercy of the fire fighters stationed on the surrounding heights.
National Resistance Front spokesman Ali Maysam Nazari told AFP this weekend that the Front was preparing for a “prolonged conflict” with the Taliban if a compromise was not reached with them on the regime. Decentralization guarantees “social justice, equal rights and freedom for all”.
A week after occupying Kabul and power in a wrongful attack, the Taliban are continuing their discussions with Afghan figures, aiming to form a government they say they want to open up to other factions.