Anti-Taliban forces holed up in northern Panjshir Valley have been defeated and the area is under “complete control” of Taliban, says group spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid.
Taliban has taken “complete control” of Panjshir province, the last area in Afghanistan being held by militia forces, the group’s spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid.
“With this victory, our country is completely taken out of the quagmire of war,” Mujahid said on Monday.
“We give full assurance to the honorable people of Panjshir that they will not be discriminated against, they are all our brothers …,” he said.
Pictures on social media showed Taliban members standing in front of the gate of the Panjshir provincial governor’s compound.
Thousands of Taliban fighters overrun eight districts of Panjshir overnight, according to witnesses from the area.
They spoke on condition of anonymity fearing for their safety.
‘This is just a tactic’
There was no immediate word from Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the opposition group fighting Taliban forces, or the ex-vice president Amrullah Saleh.
However Massoud-led so-called National Resistance Front (NRF) said it was present in “strategic positions” across the valley, adding “the struggle against the Taliban and their partners will continue”.
A spokesperson of NRF said: “This is just a tactic. We ourselves allowed the Taliban to enter the valley.”
Late Sunday, NRF –– made up of anti-Taliban militia and former Afghan security forces –– acknowledged suffering major battlefield losses in Panjshir and called for a ceasefire.
The NRF includes local fighters loyal to Massoud –– the son of the famous anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud –– as well as remnants of the Afghan military that retreated to the Panjshir Valley.
The group said in a tweet on Sunday that spokesman Fahim Dashty –– a well-known Afghan journalist and NRF spokesperson –– and General Abdul Wudod Zara had been killed in the latest fighting.
The NRF had vowed to fight the Taliban but also said it was willing to negotiate with it.
But initial contact did not lead to a breakthrough.
The Panjshir Valley is famed for being the site of resistance to Soviet forces in the 1980s and the Taliban in the late 1990s.
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
Taliban claims ‘complete control’ of Afghan province of Panjshir
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