The only Afghan province outside of Taliban control has assured it will not surrender despite continued attacks by the extremist group.

Saifullah Hassanzai, former head of the tribal affairs of Parwan, who is at the forefront of the Second Resistance Front in Panjshir, assured that they will not surrender and will continue to resist Taliban attacks.

Taliban fighters began their offensive against Panjshir on August 30, after cutting the routes by which supplies reach the region and shutting down all lines of mobile phone and Internet service.

But today Panjshir remains the only one of the 34 Afghan provinces not to have come under the control of the Taliban, after capturing the remaining 33 in less than two weeks, a process that culminated on August 15 with the capture of Kabul.

The Andarab district of the northern province of Baghlan, on the border with Panjshir, is another of the territories which continues to face the Taliban.

Panjshir forces are led by the former Afghan vice president, Amrullah Saleh, new self-proclaimed president of Afghanistan after former president Ashraf Ghani and Ahmad Massoud fled the country during the takeover of Kabul, son of the late Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, “the lion of Panjshir”, a legend for having stood up to the Soviets and the Taliban.

Panjshir was also the center of resistance against the Islamist group under the previous Taliban regime, between 1996 and 2001., which ended with the American invasion which, on the night of Monday, August 31, ended after nearly two decades of war.

“We are ready to resist the Taliban for the second time”, said the head of the economic department of Panjshir, Abdul Rahman.

(With information from EFE)

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