'Hundreds' of Taliban fighters head towards Panjshir Valley
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Taliban claim they have had to gather their army and march towards the valley only because the state has refused to give up power peacefully
After taking control of Kabul and several other cities of Afghanistan, the Taliban are now headed towards the Panjshir Valley, which is one of the few parts of the country that is still not under Taliban’s rule.
The group claimed that hundreds of Taliban insurgents are making their way to the northeastern part of the country. Taliban claim they have had to gather their army and march towards the valley only because the state has refused to give up power peacefully.
"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 wrote on its Arabic Twitter account.
This news has come as it was revealed that hundreds of locals have been making their way to the Panjshir Valley to either save their lives or join the fight against the Taliban. "We are seeing Panjshir become a safe zone for all those groups who feel threatened in other provinces," said Ali Maisam Nazary, Head of Foreign Relations for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Massoud, the son of legendary mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud who was assassinated by Al-Qaeda two days before the September 11, 2001 attacks, has started assembling and training a resistance of nearly 9,000 people. This force is being trained to counter the Taliban militants.
"Government forces came to Panjshir from several Afghan provinces," Massoud told Saudi Arabia's Al-Arabiya broadcaster Sunday. "The Taliban will not last long if it continues on this path. We are ready to defend Afghanistan and we warn of a bloodshed."