Kabul: The Taliban claimed Monday that they have total control over Afghanistan. They said they have won the key battle for the Panjshir Valley, the last remaining holdout of resistance against their rule. The Taliban had virtually captured entire August with Kabul falling to them August 15. However, the National Resistance Front (NRF) had been holding the Taliban at bay in the latter’s attempt to occupy Panjshir Valley.
However, the Islamist hardliners claimed victory Monday and said that the ‘resistance’ has been defeated. Their chief spokesman warned against any further attempts to rise up against their rule. He also urged former members of the security forces to join their regime’s ranks.
“With this victory, our country is completely taken out of the quagmire of war,” chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a press conference in Kabul. “The Islamic Emirate is very sensitive about insurgencies. Anyone who tries to start an insurgency will be hit hard. We will not allow another,” he added.
An image posted on social media by the Taliban showed its fighters at the governor’s office of Panjshir province. It has been the site of resistance to Soviet forces in the 1980s and the Taliban in the late 1990s.
The NRF in Panjshir – made up of anti-Taliban militia and former Afghan security forces – acknowledged Sunday suffering major battlefield losses and called for a ceasefire. However, Monday, the group said in a tweet that its fighters were still present in ‘strategic positions’ in the valley, as it vowed to keep up the fight.
The NRF said, “Taliban’s claim of occupying Panjshir is false. The NRF forces are present in all strategic positions across the valley to continue the fight. We assure the ppl of Afghanistan that the struggle against the Taliban & their partners will continue until justice & freedom prevails (sic).”
The NRF includes local fighters loyal to Ahmad Massoud – the son of the famous anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud – as well as remnants of the Afghan military that retreated to the Panjshir Valley.
The Taliban are yet to finalise their new regime after rolling into Kabul three weeks ago. As they undertake the major transition into governing major institutions and cities of hundreds of thousands of people, Mujahid said an interim government would first be announced, allowing for later changes. “Final decisions have been taken, we are now working on the technical issues,” he said at a press conference.
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, and then a bloody civil war.