On Monday (30 August) night, Taliban forces clashed with local Afghan militia in Panjshir valley located to the north of Kabul that led to 8 casualties at the former’s end as reported by the representative of anti-Taliban forces.
Bismillah Mohammadi, a member of the resistance movement who served as a minister under exiled President Ashraf Ghani, said in a tweet, “Last night, the Taliban attacked Panjshir, but were defeated with 7 dead and several wounded.”
“Resisting the Taliban terrorists is our duty. # Pul-e-Hesar, Deh Salah, and Banu districts in Baghlan have been occupied by the resistance forces. Resistance is still alive.”
Since the fall of Kabul on Aug 15, Panjshir has been the only region to successfully resist the Taliban occupation, even though there also has been resistance in the adjoining Baghlan region against the local Afghan government.
The spokesman for the National Resistance Forces, Mr. Fahim Dashti said that the western entrances of the valley were attacked in order to test the defense and security of the region. He further told that 2 militants of NRF were also wounded however they remained successful in not letting the Taliban take over.
The NRF is established by Masoud, son of Ahmed Shah Masood, the former Jihadist against the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan. It constitutes of local militants, a few army personnel and the member of special security forces. Masoud says he is ready to negotiate with the Taliban forces but will retaliate in case of an attack by the opponent forces.
A large number of Taliban forces are still there in Panjshir but both sides are trying to abstain from any further military action and rather focusing on coming up with peaceful solutions through negotiation.
The Taliban government observed celebratory gunfire on Tuesday (31 August) as the last US plane took off from Kabul airport giving the Taliban full control which marks the end of 20 years of war in Afghanistan.
