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Taliban Claim Victory in Panjshir Valley

Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD - The Taliban announced Monday they had conquered the
   northern Panjshir Valley, ending the only armed resistance to their
   rule in Afghanistan.

   "This victory brings an end to the war across the nation and paves the
   way for a peaceful life and prosperity in an atmosphere of
   independence," Taliban spokesmanZabihullahMujahid said in a statement.

   There was no immediate reaction from the opposition forces, known as
   the National Resistance Front and led by commander Ahmad Massoud.

   The Taliban claimed the victory hours after Massoud said he welcomed
   proposals from religious scholars for holding peace talks with the
   Taliban if they pull back their forces from his native Panjshir.

   [1]Ahmad Massoud made the offer through a post on his organization's
   Facebook page on a day when Taliban forces claimed they had fought
   their way into the provincial capital,Bazarak, after seizing the rest
   of the province.

   Multiple sources also confirmed the killing of the NRF's official
   spokesman, FahimDashty, along with Massoud's cousin, General
   AbdulWudood, during Sunday's fighting.
   "The National Resistance Front is ready to stop the war immediately in
   order to achieve stable peace, if the Taliban group ends its military
   attacks and movements in Panjshir andAndarab," the Facebook post quoted
   Massoud as saying.Andarabis a district in the
   neighboringBaghlanprovince and sits at the entrance to Panjshir.
   Massoud's statement came in response to reports in Afghan media that
   said a council of religious scholars had called on the Taliban to
   accept a negotiated settlement to end the fighting.

   Panjshir is the last remaining area of armed resistance to the
   Taliban's rule since they captured the other 33 Afghan provinces,
   including the capital, Kabul, last month in a lightning blitz as
   Western-trained government forcescollapsedand President Ashraf Ghani
   fled the country.
   But a week later theNRF, whichcomprisesmembers of U.S.-trained Afghan
   security forces and local tribal militias, retookAndaraband two other
   adjoining districts inBaghlan.
   The Taliban denounced the attack as a breach of their general amnesty
   for all members and politicians of the ousted Afghan government. They
   repeatedly had urged NRF leaders to surrender their arms and find a
   negotiated settlement to the security crisis.
   The talks eventually broke down, with each side blaming the other for
   their failure, prompting the Taliban to stage a major offensive several
   days ago that retook the lost ground.
   The advances also paved the way for the Taliban to assault and enter
   Panjshir, home to the country's Tajik ethnic minority andlocatednorth
   of the capital, Kabul.
   In social media posts, Taliban officials, responding to the conditional
   offer of talks, said their forces were pressing ahead with the
   offensive to clear Panjshir of the armed resistance, adding that
   fighting was ongoing insideBazarak.
   Militiamen loyal to Ahmad Massoud, son of the late Ahmad Shah Massoud,
   take part in a training exercise, in Panjshir province, northeastern
   Afghanistan, Aug. 30, 2021.

   The claim could not be verified from independent sources, and both the
   adversaries have issued inflated details about their gains since the
   fighting broke out.
   Massoud's father successfully defended the province when the Taliban
   ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
   Taliban government
   The lack of control over all of Afghanistan has apparently prevented
   the Taliban from announcing a new government.
   The Islamist group is under international scrutiny to deliver on
   pledges that their system of governance will represent all Afghan
   ethnic groups and respect human rights, particularly those of women,
   unlike their previous exclusive hardline regime in Kabul.
   On Saturday, small groups of women activists took to the streets in
   Kabul and in parts of western Afghanistan, demanding respect for their
   rights and representation in the new government.
   Taliban fighters broke up a rally of about a dozen women in the capital
   to stop them from heading to the presidential palace.
   Footage circulating on social media showed demonstrators, who had been
   confronted by armed Taliban fighters, covering their mouths and
   coughing, with one woman saying the security guards had used tear gas
   to disperse the rally.
   "They also hit women on the head with gun magazines, and the women
   become bloody," said one of the demonstrators who identified herself as
   Soraya.
   "Taliban blocking protest by beatings and tear gas: unfortunately, this
   is pretty much on brand for a group that relies on brute force to
   suppress dissent," tweeted Patria Gossman, associate Asia director for
   Human Rights Watch.
   The Taliban imposed a brutal justice system and banned women from work
   and prevented older girls from receiving an education when the
   fundamentalist group previously seized power in Afghanistan.
   Taliban leaders, however, have promised to install an inclusive
   government in Kabul that they say will allow women to work and receive
   an education within the framework of Islamic law, or Sharia.
   ManyAfghans doubt the reliability of their pledges.
   "It will be an inclusive strong central and sustainable system or
   government," Bilal Karimi, a member of the Taliban's cultural
   commission, toldVOAon Friday.

References

   1. https://www.facebook.com/ahmadmassoud1

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