OF THE
TIMES
The Taliban has declared the war in Afghanistan over, but a bloodbath is on the cards in an isolated valley north of Kabul, after a defiant local warlord and ousted Afghan fighters who fled there rejected a Taliban ultimatum. Lying some 150km (93 miles) north of Kabul, the Panjshir Valley is sealed off by mountains and offers invaders only one way in: through a narrow river gorge. Panjshir is easily defensible, and it's here that warlord Ahmad Massoud has been gathering fighters willing to resist Taliban rule.Update 23/8/2021: Meanwhile, Taliban forces recaptured three districts in northern Afghanistan that fell to local militia groups last week:
The valley's inhabitants are mostly of Tajik ethnicity, while the Taliban are a predominantly Pashtun force. Massoud has rallied these Tajiks under the banner of his National Resistance Front (NRF), a rebranding of the National United Front (Northern Alliance) led by his father, Ahmad Shah Massoud.
For the past week, his son has also welcomed former Afghan officials to his valley redoubt. Ousted vice president Amrullah Saleh and former defense minister Bismillah Mohammadi have taken refuge with the Northern Alliance, along with soldiers of the Afghan National Army and special forces who refused to surrender to the Taliban along with their comrades.
Recent videos on social media show columns of men and vehicles arriving in the valley with Northern Alliance flags, and photos posted by pro-alliance accounts show fighters preparing for combat with drills and maneuvers. Taliban forces are closing in on Panjshir, bringing with them American arms and vehicles looted in the wake of the US withdrawal. Save for some US weapons brought by Afghan National Army troops, the NRF is relying on older stockpiles of Soviet arms.
Taliban commanders have reportedly given Massoud until Sunday evening to surrender, but the warlord is not ready to capitulate, and instead wants to negotiate a "comprehensive government" for Afghanistan in which the Taliban share power, Al-Arabiya reported. Should the militants refuse dialog, war would be "unavoidable," Al-Arabiya quoted him as saying.
Russian ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov described the Panjshir resistance as doomed."They have no military prospects. There are not many people there. As far as we know they have 7,000 armed people. And they already have problems with fuel. They tried to fly a helicopter but they have no petrol and no supplies. We can't wave reality aside. [The Taliban] are the de facto authorities. There is no alternative to the Taliban in Afghanistan."
The districts of Bano, Deh Saleh, Pul e-Hesar in Baghlan province were taken by local militia groups in one of the first signs of armed resistance to the Taliban since their seizure of the capital Kabul on Aug. 15.
Late on Sunday, the Taliban's Alemarah information service said hundreds of fighters were heading towards Panjshir but there has been no immediate confirmation of any fighting.
Zabihullah Mujahid said the Salang Pass, on the main highway running from southern Afghanistan to the north, was open and enemy forces were blockaded in the Panjshir valley. But his statement suggested that there was no fighting for the moment.
"The Islamic Emirate is trying to resolve the problems peacefully," Zabihullah said.
......is in for a big surprise if he got dirt or pebbles lodged up in the muzzle of his rifle from his idiotic move of using his rifle's muzzle to support himself.