Afghanistan: the Taliban besiege the last resistance fighters in the Panchir Valley – archyde

A simple show of force before a negotiation or a desire to eradicate all forms of protest? The Taliban troops moved on Sunday, August 22, aboard their many pick-ups, towards the Panchir valley, a province enclosed between high mountains about a hundred kilometers from Kabul, where the last fighters to refuse have withdrawn. their victory since the fall of Kabul on August 15.

Gathered around the former vice-president of the deposed regime, Amrullah Saleh, and Ahmad Massoud, son of the famous commander Massoud known as the Lion of Panchir, killed by Al-Qaida on September 9, 2001, hundreds of men swear to fight to the death. This region is remembered for having escaped, between 1996 and 2001, all attempts at occupation by the Taliban, while the latter ruled the country until the American intervention.

For the time being, each camp alternates between belligerent declarations and the desire to find a political solution. “Our fighters are stationed near the Panchir”, confirmed on Sunday on Twitter one of the spokespersons of the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, adding that his movement “Try to solve this case peacefully”. Thursday, in an audio message to World, Mr. Saleh said he was ready to negotiate with the new regime provided that the Afghan people had “His say on the type of State” who will preside over the destiny of the country. He assured, however, that there will be no “No surrender” or “No declaration of allegiance”.

A position taken up by Ahmad Massoud, who called for the formation of an inclusive government where all the various ethnic groups in the country would be represented, stressing that a ” Totalitarian regime “ should not be recognized by the international community. In comments reported by Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV, he assured him that he would not return areas of the country he controls to the Taliban, adding that a war would be “Inevitable” if the Islamist movement were to refuse dialogue. “The Taliban will not last if they continue like this. We are ready to defend Afghanistan and we warn against a bloodbath. “

Ammunition shortage

On Monday, unconfirmed information, disseminated mainly on social networks, reported skirmishes and ambushes on the outskirts of the Panchir valley whose entrance, known for its first turns marrying a narrow gorge, makes the invasion very complex for external forces. Surrounded on either side of the valley, the troops of the National Resistance Front (FNR) are working to break a blockade that threatens to deprive them of ammunition and food. On August 20, these fighters, associated with village anti-Taliban militias, reportedly tried to open a corridor to the north to gain access to Tajikistan by taking control of three districts in Baghlan province, occupied by the Taliban. .

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