- A spokesperson said that Taliban fighters occupied the Panjshir Valley.
- The opposition fighters vowed to continue resisting.
- The Taliban pledged to build a more inclusive government.
The Taliban said on Monday that they had occupied Afghanistan’s last resistance zone, the Panjshir Valley, despite opposition fighters vowing to continue fighting against hardline Islamists.
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Following the lightning-fast defeat of the Afghan army in August and celebrating the last U.S. troops flying out after the 20-year war, the Taliban turned to fighting forces defending the mountainous Panjshir Valley.
Chief Spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said: “With this victory, our country is completely out of the quagmire of war.”
A picture posted by the Taliban on social media shows its fighters in the office of the Governor of Panjshir Province.
However, the National Resistance Front (NRF), composed of anti-Taliban militias and former Afghan security forces, stated that its combatants are still in a “strategic location” in the valley and they are continuing to fight.
“We assure the Afghan people that the struggle with the Taliban and their partners will continue until justice and freedom prevail,” NRF tweeted in English.
Major battlefield losses
Later on Sunday, they admitted that they had suffered major battlefield losses in Panjshir and called for a ceasefire.
The NRF includes local fighters loyal to Ahmed Masood — the son of the famous anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban commander Ahmed Shah Masood — as well as remnants of the Afghan army who retreated to the Panjshir Valley.
The organization said in a tweet on Sunday that NRF spokesman Fahim Dashti (a well-known Afghan journalist) and the famous military commander General Abdul Udod Zara had been fighting in the recent battle. Killed in.
NRF vowed to fight the Taliban, but also expressed its willingness to negotiate with Islamists. But the initial contact did not bring about a breakthrough.
The Panjshir Valley is famous for its resistance against Soviet troops in the 1980s and the Taliban in the late 1990s.
The Taliban have yet to finalize their new regime after entering Kabul three weeks ago, and analysts say that even hardline Islamists may themselves be surprised.
The new rulers of Afghanistan promised to be more “tolerant” than when they first came to power, which also emerged after years of conflict—first the Soviet invasion in 1979, and then the bloody civil war.
They promised to establish a government that represents the complex ethnic makeup of Afghanistan-although women are unlikely to be included in the top ranks.
Under the Taliban’s rule from 1996 to 2001, the freedom of Afghan women was severely restricted.
challenge
The Taliban education authorities stated in a lengthy document released on Sunday that this time, as long as classes are segregated by gender or at least separated by curtains, women can go to university.
But female students must also wear abaya (robe) and niqab (veil), which is in contrast to the more conservative burqas mandated by the former Taliban regime.
As the Taliban begin their transition from insurgency to government, they face a series of challenges, including the critical humanitarian needs of international assistance.
The head of humanitarian affairs of the United Nations, Martin Griffith, has arrived in Kabul and met with Taliban leaders for several days, who have pledged to help.
United Nations spokesperson Stephen Dujarric (Stephane Dujarric) said in a statement: “The authorities promise that the safety and security of humanitarian workers, as well as humanitarian aid visits to those in need, will be guaranteed. Workers-both men and women-will be guaranteed freedom of movement.”.
A Taliban spokesperson said on Twitter that the organization’s delegation has assured the United Nations of its cooperation.
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