Taliban claim to have taken Panjshir Valley, last bastion of resistance against fundamentalists in Afghanistan

The Taliban said Monday that the last hotbed of resistance to their power in Afghanistan, the mountainous Panjshir Valley, had been “completely captured”.

“With this victory, our country is completely out of the swamp of war”Islamist movement’s main spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in a statement.

The Taliban claimed that their fighters had succeeded in conquering the northern province of Panjshir, the only one of Afghanistan’s 34 regions not to fall into the hands of the insurgents, which remained defended by resistance forces.

“The last stronghold of the mercenary enemy, the province of Panjshir, has been completely conquered”, Zabihullah Mujahid assured.

According to the spokesperson, “The province of Panjshir has come under the total control of the Islamic Emirate (as the Taliban call themselves)”, after intense days of fighting.

“Some of the rebels in the province were defeated and the rest fled, freeing the oppressed and honorable people of Panjshir.”he added.

Panjshir was so far the only one of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces not to be under Islamist control, after the group captured the remaining 33 regions in less than two weeks, culminating with the capture of Kabul on August 15.

“With this victory and this last effort, the rest of the country will be completely out of the war and will have a peaceful and prosperous life in an environment of freedom, independence and prosperity,” the spokesperson concluded.

The province of Panjshir had resisted, defended by the National Resistance Front, made up of local guerrillas and troops from the overthrown Afghan government who took refuge in the region during their withdrawal.

However, The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), as the guerrilla group resisting in the Afghan province of Panjshir is identified, today denied the fall of the province to the Taliban., and assured that the fighting continues.

“The claim of the Taliban that they occupied Panjshir is false. NRF forces are present in all strategic positions in the valley to continue the fight “the movement said with a Twitter post shortly after the Taliban claimed to have conquered the territory.

“We assure the Afghan people that the fight against the Taliban and their partners will continue until justice and freedom prevail.he added, in a post posted to several NRF social media accounts.

The resistance was led by former Afghan vice president Amrullah Saleh, the self-proclaimed new president of Afghanistan after former president Ashraf Ghani fled the country during the takeover of Kabul., and Ahmad Massoud, 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.

The fighting has intensified in recent days after the failed attempts at dialogue by fundamentalists and Ahmad Massoud to find a solution to the conflict.

So far neither Ahmad Massoud nor Amrullah Saleh have confirmed their surrender or the fall of the province.

The Panjshir was also the center of resistance against the Islamist group during the previous Taliban regime, between 1996 and 2001, which ended in an American invasion that ended this week after nearly two decades of war.

(With information from EFE)

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