Panjshir, the Afghan province that resisted for 40 years and became the Taliban’s nightmare

While the Scenes of chaos in Afghanistan repeat as thousands desperately try to flee the country after Taliban seize power, there is a place that leads 40 years of resistance and where no enemy force has been able to invade. It is the province of Panjshir and its valley, a hundred kilometers north of Kabul, once again become the main stronghold against the Taliban, after the rest of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, including the capital, fell to insurgents in a rapid offensive.

The road between Panjshir and Kabul is bounded by remains of old Soviet and Western military machines, checkpoints and old bridges which can be exploited at will to ban the arrival of invaders, according to Spanish media The world.

The province is safe and all state organizations remain active, residents are prepared for any type of attack by the Taliban, he assured the press agency Efe the head of the department of economics of Panjshir, Abdul Rahman.

“We are ready to resist the Taliban for the second time”Rahman said, referring to how under the previous Taliban regime, Between 1996 and 2001, the Panjshir Valley was the only region in Afghanistan to have avoided occupation by insurgents..

At the forefront of this resistance was the charismatic guerrilla leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, known as the “Lion of Panjshir”, What Thanks to his talents as a strategist and the natural strength of the valley, he managed to avoid the fall of the province under Taliban control., as it had done before during the Soviet invasion.

But with his death 20 years ago, he will no longer be able to fight this fight. The “Lion of Panjshir” died two days before the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, at the hands of two journalists suspected of Arab origin, who detonated an explosive charge hidden in a fake camera, an action which has been linked to al-Qaeda.

Since, the memory of the fighter has grown at a giant pace and the cult of his figure is omnipresent in the valley.

Now Much of the troops who did not resist the Taliban in their rapid offensive in the country, which in just over a week conquered 33 provincial capitals, are in Panjshir. support political leaders such as the first vice-president of the former Afghan government, Amrullah Saleh.

Although Abdul Rahman confirmed the presence of these security forces, he pointed out that so far local troops are responsible for “95%” of the protection of the province.

After many political leaders left the country, such as the President of Afghanistan, Achraf Ghani, Vice-President Saleh assured in a message that will face the insurgents until the end.

“Never, never and under no circumstances will I bow down to the Taliban terrorists. I will never betray the soul and the legacy of my hero Ahmad Shah Massoud, the commander, the legend and the guide … I will never be under the same roof as the Taliban. Never”, he noticed.

The son of the “Lion of Panjshir”, the young Ahmad Massoud, seems to have now become one of the key elements to lead this resistance, while the Taliban have already proclaimed their victory in Afghanistan and the birth of a new era for the country.

He recently stated that had no problem speaking to the Taliban to avoid bloodshed, while criticizing the US deal with the jihadists: “Unless we go into a process of decentralization of power in Afghanistan, we will not be able to solve any problem. This agreement will give a feeling of triumph and victory to the Taliban … This is the real fear, which we legitimize, we give hope to terrorist groups around the world“Masud said, according to El Mundo.

“A new Lion of Panshir is born. And this is great news, in these dark times, for men of good will. “Young Masoud said of himself in an interview with the Gandhara website.

(With information from EFE)

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