Amrullah Saleh, who has declared himself to be the acting President of Afghanistan, has announced that Taliban fighters have gathered in large numbers at the entrance of Panjshir.
Former Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who has declared himself to be the acting President of Afghanistan, has announced that Taliban fighters have gathered in large numbers at the entrance of Panjshir, from where the anti-Taliban forces are putting up a fight.
In a tweet on Monday morning, Saleh said, “Talibs have massed forces near the entrance of Panjshir a day after they got trapped in ambush zones of neighboring Andarab valley & hardly went out in one piece.”
In a further update, Saleh said, “Meanwhile Salang highway is closed by the forces of the Resistance. There are terrains to be avoided.”
Forces putting up a resistance against the Taliban group in northern Afghanistan say they have taken three districts close to the Panjshir valley. Groups of the former Afghanistan government forces and other militia groups have gathered in Panjshir.
Former Vice President Amrullah Saleh and Ahmad Massoud have vowed to resist the Taliban from Panjshir, which repelled both Soviet forces and the Taliban in the 1980s and 1990s.
According to India Today, people close to Massoud say that more than 6,000 fighters, made up of remnants of army and special force units as well as local militia groups, have gathered in the Panjshir valley. They say they have some helicopters and military vehicles and have repaired some of the armored vehicles left behind by the Soviets.
India Today says there appeared to be no connection between the groups in Panjshir and apparently uncoordinated demonstrations in some eastern cities and the capital Kabul in which protesters raised the red green and black colors of the Afghan flag.
Ahmad Massoud reportedly said on Sunday he hoped to hold peaceful talks with the Islamist movement that seized power in Kabul a week ago but that his forces were ready to fight.
According to ABC News, Ali Maisam Nazary, the head of foreign relations for the Afghan National Resistance Front (NRF), said thousands of people have made their way to Panjshir to both join the fight and find a safe haven to continue their lives.
Recall, the Taliban said it was sending fighting forces to bring the Panjshir region under its control.
“Hundreds of Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate are heading towards the state of Panjshir to control it, after local state officials refused to hand it over peacefully,” the group reportedly wrote on its Arabic Twitter account on Sunday.
