Taliban Say Resistance Holdout Panjshir Valley "Completely Captured"

Kabul: The Taliban said Monday that they had captured the last pocket of resistance in Afghanistan, the Panjshir Valley, whilst opposition fighters vowed to stay up their struggle against the hardline Islamists Following their lightning-fast rout of Afghanistan’s army last month and celebrations when the last US troops flew out after 20 years of war, the Taliban turned to fight the forces defending the mountainous Panjshir Valley.

“With this victory, our country is totally taken out of the quagmire of war,” chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said An image posted on social media by the Taliban showed its fighters at the governor’s office of Panjshir province However, the National Resistance Front (NRF) — made from anti-Taliban militia and former Afghan security forces — said its fighters were still present in “strategic positions” across the valley, which they were continuing the struggle.

“We assure the people of Afghanistan that the struggle against the Taliban and their partners will continue until justice and freedom prevails,” the NRF tweeted in English Late Sunday, that they had acknowledged suffering major battlefield losses in Panjshir and involved a ceasefire The NRF includes local fighters loyal to Ahmad Massoud — the son of the famous anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud — also as remnants of the Afghan military that retreated to the Panjshir Valley.

The group said during a tweet Sunday that NRF spokesman Fahim Dashty — a well known Afghan journalist — and General Abdul Wudod Zara, a prominent military commander, had been killed within the latest fighting The NRF had vowed to fight the Taliban but also said it had been willing to barter with the Islamists. But initial contact didn’t cause a breakthrough The Panjshir Valley is famed for being the location of resistance to Soviet forces within the 1980s and therefore the Taliban within the late 1990s.

Taliban Government

The Taliban are yet to finalise their new regime after rolling into Kabul three weeks ago at a speed that analysts say likely surprised even the hardline Islamists themselves Afghanistan’s new rulers have pledged to be more “inclusive” than during their first stint in power, which also came after years of conflict — first the Soviet invasion of 1979, then a bloody war .

They have promised a government that represents Afghanistan’s complex ethnic makeup — though women are unlikely to be included at the highest levels Women’s freedoms in Afghanistan were sharply curtailed under the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule.

This time, women are going to be allowed to attend university as long as classes are segregated by sex or a minimum of divided by a curtain, the Taliban’s education authority said during a lengthy document issued on Sunday But female students must also wear an abaya (robe) and niqab (face-veil), as against the even more conservative burqa mandatory under the previous Taliban regime As the Taliban come to grips with their transition from insurgency to government they’re facing a number of challenges, including humanitarian needs that international assistance is critical.

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths has arrived in Kabul for several days of meetings with the Taliban leadership, which has promised to assist The authorities pledged that the security and security of humanitarian staff, and humanitarian access to people in need, are going to be guaranteed which humanitarian workers — both men and ladies — are going to be guaranteed freedom of movement,” a press release from UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said The Taliban spokesman tweeted that the group’s delegation assured the UN of cooperation.

Flurry Of Diplomacy

The international community is coming to terms with the new Taliban regime with a flurry of diplomacy US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due Monday in Qatar, a key player within the Afghan saga Qatar, which hosts a serious US military base, has been the gateway for 55,000 people airlifted out of Afghanistan, nearly half the entire evacuated by US-led forces after the Taliban takeover on Assumption .

Blinken also will speak to the Qataris about efforts alongside Turkey to reopen Kabul’s airport, which is important for flying in badly needed humanitarian aid and evacuating remaining Afghans Blinken will then head Wednesday to the US air station in Ramstein, Germany, a short lived home for thousands of Afghans moving to the us , from which he will hold a virtual 20-nation ministerial meeting on the crisis alongside German secretary of state Heiko Maas.