Ahmad Masood: “We are forced to fight to protect our country, people and values”
In northern Afghanistan, in the Panjshir Valley, there have been violent clashes between Taliban militants (terrorist RF banned) and resistance forces against the Taliban.
Photo: pixabay.com
The Panjshir Valley, a mountainous and inaccessible area north of Kabul, remains Afghanistan's last major stronghold against the Taliban government. Sporadic fighting between the Taliban and the National Resistance Front (FNR) has been going on for two weeks, CNN said. In recent weeks, the Taliban have been concentrating forces in and around Panjshir Province and announced on Monday that they had confiscated three areas in the valley.
According to a group source, Thursday Night fighting took place in the Panjshir Valley between the Taliban and their opponents.
The night clashes between Taliban and Afghan national resistance fighters began late Thursday night and were very intense, a CNN source told the Taliban.
“They (the Taliban) use all their strength to get inside, but the clashes are still going on,” the source added.
As early as Thursday, Fahim Dashti, spokesman for the National Resistance Front … said in an audio message that the Taliban had lost 40 of its fighters in ongoing attempts to enter Panjshir. Ali Nazari, another group spokesman, said on Thursday that the Taliban had also lost some of their heavy equipment and weapons.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, meanwhile, says The Guardian said: “We started operations after negotiations with a local armed group failed.” Taliban fighters entered Panjshir and took control of the territory, forcing the enemy to suffer “heavy losses.” Entering the valley and suppressing attempts to seize the Shotul area: “The enemy tried several times to penetrate the Shotul from Jabul-Saraj and each time failed. “
Taliban leaders on Wednesday called on Panjshiris to accept an amnesty and avoid hostilities, but admitted that negotiations had not yet yielded results. Taliban officials argue that the situation “needs to be resolved peacefully.”>
Rugged and inaccessible terrain plays a role in its successful defense, giving local valley forces an advantage over potential invaders.
As CNN recalls, in the early 1990s in Afghanistan, flooded by a confrontation between mujahedeen warlords who had previously fought against the USSR and the pro-Soviet Afghan government, the Northern Alliance – now considered a major component of the National Resistance Front – led by Ahmad Shah Massoud which managed to keep the Panjshir Valley under Taliban rule during his five-year rule. He led an offensive against the Taliban until he was killed two days before the attacks of September 11, 2001 by terrorists from Al Qaeda (a terrorist organization banned in Russia).
A new anti-Taliban coalition and a broader National Resistance Front
Massoud and the National Resistance Front are gathering forces in the Panjshir Valley with anti-Tibetan army forces, including local militias, as well as remnants of the former Afghan government army. People fleeing the Taliban have also taken refuge in the valley, including former Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh.
“The Taliban have not changed and are still trying to rule the country,” Masood told CNN in an interview with Wednesday. “We resist intolerance, oppression and the domination of one political force over the majority of the population that does not support them.” Masood Jr. he added that he and the Front of the National Resistance are still trying to negotiate with the Taliban. But so far this dialogue “has not led to anything tangible.” Negotiations are taking place in Charika, the administrative capital of the neighboring province of Parwan.
“Negotiations have their limits,” Masoud said. “War is a continuation of politics, and if we face aggression, we will have to fight and start resistance to protect our country, our people and our values.”