Panjshir Valley, last resistance holdout in Afghanistan, falls to the Taliban

[Celerity]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/09/06/afghanistan-kabul-taliban-updates/



The Taliban on Monday seized Panjshir province, a restive mountain region that was the final holdout of resistance forces in the country, cementing its total control over Afghanistan a week after U.S. forces departed the country. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that the Islamist group had “completely conquered” the Panjshir Valley. “With the help of Allah, and support of our people, the Islamic Emirate has taken complete control. Our last efforts for establishing peace and security in the country have given results," he said.

A senior official of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, confirmed that the Taliban had taken over. “Yes, Panjshir has fallen. Taliban took control of government offices. Taliban fighters entered into the governor’s house,” the person said. Ahmad Massoud, head of the resistance, is “at [a] safe place,” the official said, adding that Amrullah Saleh, another senior anti-Taliban leader who had served as vice president of the ousted government, had fled for Tajikistan.

In a video recorded on Friday, Saleh said reports at the time that he had fled the country were “totally baseless,” although he added that the situation was “difficult.” Some members of the resistance denied that the Taliban had occupied Panjshir. The National Resistance Front said in a Facebook post Monday that its forces were “present in all strategic positions across the valley to continue the fight.”

“The people of Afghanistan should be assured that the resistance will continue until the freedom and justice is achieved by God’s help,” the organization said. The Taliban’s victory followed an extended period of heavy fighting between resistance guerrillas and Afghanistan’s new rulers. Resistance fighters set up a base in the Panjshir Valley days after the Taliban seized control of Kabul last month, convinced that they could hold a valley that was never conquered by the Taliban in the 1990s nor by the Soviet Union in its nearly decade-long occupation in the 1980s.

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[Klaralven]

1. Taliban claims victory in Panjshir as it calls to end war: Live

The Taliban has claimed victory over opposition forces in the last holdout province of Panjshir, completing their takeover of Afghanistan three weeks after capturing Kabul.

“With this victory, our country is completely taken out of the quagmire of war,” chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Monday.

The anti-Taliban National Resistance Front (NRF), pledged to carry on fighting in Panjshir Valley, saying it is present in “strategic positions” and that “the struggle against the Taliban… will continue”.

The whereabouts of resistance leader Ahmed Massoud and Amrullah Saleh, the former vice president who had joined the resistance after the fall of Kabul, were not immediately known.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/6/taliban-claims-complete-capture-of-panjshir-valley-live