Cited local media reports, the resistance force in Afghanistan’s northeastern province Pajnshir said they will continue fighting the Taliban because negotiations with the insurgents failed to produce any results. Following the Taliban’s blitz across Afghanistan, Panjshir is the only province where anti-Taliban forces have maintained a stronghold and are out of reach of the Taliban.
The Taliban, who have been in talks with the resistance leaders, said on Wednesday that their efforts to find a political solution to a dispute “went in vain” and yielded no results.
In an audio message on Wednesday, Amir Khan Motaqi, the head of Taliban’s commission for guidance & encouragement, also urged Panjshir residents to join the Islamic Emirate and promised that it will be a home for all Afghans. “We still want to prevent war and find a political solution,” Motaqi said in the message posted on social media.
The Panjshir valley is located in the Hindu Kush mountains, about 90 miles north of Kabul, which fell under Taliban control on August 15 after the Afghan government collapsed. After steamrolling through pro-government troops in a matter of months, the Taliban have been unable to take this major holdout of resistance.
Ahmad Massoud, the son of famous Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, and Amrullah Saleh, the current acting president of the South Asian nation, are leading the resistance in Panjshir. They are currently all in Panjshir Valley, attempting to challenge the Taliban.
Meanwhile, the United States’ last remaining troops have left the country.
