Panjshir Valley: Afghanistan’s last holdout against the Taliban

The valley has lengthy withstood overseas occupation; the British Empire’s military was unable to penetrate the area throughout its try to take Afghanistan within the nineteenth century.

The panorama of the Panjshir Valley performs a component in its defensive success. Tucked into the Hindu Kush mountain vary and accessible solely by way of a slim gorge, native forces have lengthy harnessed its distant location as a bonus over would-be invaders.

Previous to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, leaders of Panjshir province had referred to as on the Afghan authorities in Kabul to grant them extra autonomy.

Many of the valley’s inhabitants are ethnic Tajiks, whereas the Taliban are largely Pashtuns.

Who’re the Northern Alliance?

After the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, numerous factions of mujahedeen — or Islamic holy warriors — break up into teams, combating for management of the nation.

From this chaos, Massoud fashioned the Northern Alliance, a coalition of Uzbek and Tajik forces. For some time his forces occupied Kabul, however have been accused of human rights abuses.

Many of the nation fell to Taliban in 1996. However the Northern Alliance, below Massoud’s management, managed to maintain the Panjshir Valley freed from the militant group’s grip all through its five-year rule.

The coalition is now led by Massoud’s son, Ahmad Massoud, who has vowed to proceed the struggle towards the Taliban within the wake of their close to takeover of Afghanistan.

In a Washington Put up editorial final week Massoud, 32, appealed to Western forces for assist in that struggle, saying that members of the Afghan army — together with some from the elite Particular Forces models — had rallied to the trigger.

“We’ve got shops of ammunition and arms that now we have patiently collected since my father’s time, as a result of we knew today would possibly come,” he wrote. “If Taliban warlords launch an assault, they are going to in fact face staunch resistance from us,” he mentioned.

Former Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh — who was born in Panjshir and skilled there earlier than finally main Afghanistan’s intelligence company — fled to Panjshir after Kabul fell to the Taliban.

However the taking part in area has quickly modified, with the mountainous space north of the capital now infiltrated by Taliban forces, who’ve blocked essential provide traces to the area.

Wazir Akbar Mohmand, a former main within the Afghan Nationwide Military who joined the Panjshir opposition mentioned in a tweet on Monday: “Sniper, highway blocks artillery place & 20k troopers able to struggle.”

On Saturday, the French author Bernard-Henri Levy, who has lengthy been a supporter of the Northern Alliance, tweeted: “I simply spoke to Ahmad #Massoud on the cellphone. He advised me: ‘I’m the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud; give up just isn’t a part of my vocabulary.'”

Will Panjshir fall to the Taliban?

The Taliban have been locked in sporadic fight with the Northern Alliance over the previous week, however Taliban officers advised CNN Thursday that each side had agreed to cease offensive actions whereas talks between the 2 sides happen.

On Monday, the Taliban claimed to have captured three areas of the Panjshir Valley from the Northern Alliance, with Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeting that “the districts of Banu, Bel Hisar, and De Salah have been utterly cleansed from evil.”

Over the weekend, the Taliban moved reinforcements in to the area, calling on the Northern Alliance and its chief to give up.

The previous Afghan Vice President, Amrullah Saleh, who’s now within the Panjshir, tweeted early Tuesday: “Talibs aren’t permitting meals & gasoline to get into Andarab valley. The humanitarian state of affairs is dire. 1000’s of girls & kids have fled to mountains. For the reason that final two days Talibs abduct kids & aged and use them as shields to maneuver round or do home search.”

However whereas combating was breaking out, the opportunity of negotiations between the 2 sides was mooted. A Taliban spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, mentioned: “Conquering Panjshir by power would be the final possibility as that is towards our insurance policies. We’ll strive our greatest to not go that approach.”

And in an interview with Reuters on Sunday, Massoud mentioned he was open to negotiations as long as the Taliban promised an inclusive authorities, however that his supporters have been able to struggle if the Taliban tried to invade the valley.

Talks have been going down within the metropolis of Charika, the capital of the neighboring Parwan province.

The Taliban officers advised CNN that one sticking level was the insistence of the Nationwide Resistance Entrance {that a} nationwide vacation in Afghanistan honoring Masoud’s father, Ahmad Shah Masoud, proceed to be acknowledged.

On Sunday, earlier than the 2 sides turned engaged in talks, a spokesperson for Massoud’s Nationwide Resistance Entrance (NRF) mentioned they consider {that a} decentralized authorities was the “solely resolution.”

“We’re in favor of peace — however peace doesn’t imply surrendering to the enemies’ calls for and one power to dominate the politics of the nation. Our situations for lasting peace in Afghanistan are decentralization of energy and wealth, democracy, political and cultural pluralism, average Islam, and equal rights and freedom for all residents,” NRF spokesman Ali Nazary advised CNN.

Nazary added that the NRF believes the “risk of worldwide terrorism is growing, and can as soon as once more threaten US pursuits and soil.” He referred to as on the West to “cooperate with the NRF, to forestall one other 9/11 from occurring.”