Al-Qaeda also helps the Taliban in the fighting for the Punjir Valley – SME.sk

Both sides have suffered losses in recent days.

2. Sep 2021 at 21:28 TASR

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CABLE. The al-Qaeda terrorist organization has joined the Taliban militant movement in the fighting in the Punjir Valley, where a national resistance front led by local leader Ahmad Masoud is operating. Al-Arabiya television reported on Thursday, citing sources from local militias.

According to television, both parties have suffered losses in recent days. Masoud is the son of the assassinated commander of the former US-backed anti-Tibetan Northern Alliance, Ahmad Shah Masoud.

Together with former Afghan Vice President Amrullah Salih, he withdrew to his hometown of Punjir after the Taliban offensive. In Punjir, there is a unit of several thousand composed of local militias and remnants of the Afghan army and special forces. The terrain gives them refuge and a strategic advantage in combat.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Thursday that Taliban troops had occupied part of the territory in the Punjir Valley. “We started a (military) operation after negotiations with a local armed group failed … They suffered heavy losses,” Mujahid added.

On the contrary, a spokesman for the front said that the resistance movement had full control over all passages and repulsed the Taliban’s attempt to occupy one of the districts near the valley.

Punjir is a remote, largely inaccessible mountain area. It is entered through a narrow gorge, where the attackers can become an easy target for militants set up in higher places.

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