Nearly 600 Taliban fighters were killed in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Panjshir, the last Afghan province against the radical Islamist group, Afghan resistance forces have claimed. According to Sputnik News, resistance forces spokesman Faheem Dashti tweeted, “Around 600 Taliban militants have been eliminated since morning in various districts of Panjshir. Over 1,000 Taliban militants have been captured or surrendered. ” Getting supplies from other Afghan provinces.
Panjshir is the bastion of Afghanistan’s National Resistance Front, which is led by Ahmed Masood, son of the late former Afghan guerrilla commander Ahmed Shah Masood, and acting President Amrullah Saleh. The Taliban, which swept the country before the final withdrawal of US-led troops on August 31, could not control the Valley when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
Even though both the parties claimed to have the upper hand in Panjshir, neither of them has provided any conclusive evidence to prove it. Al Jazeera reported that a Taliban official said fighting was continuing in Panjshir, but the advance was slowed by landmines on the road leading to the capital Bajrak and the provincial governor’s compound. Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi said Khinj and Unaba districts had been taken, giving Taliban forces control of four of the province’s seven districts. “Mujahideen (Taliban fighters) are moving towards the center (province),” he said on Twitter.
On its part, Afghanistan’s National Resistance Front said it had surrounded “thousands of terrorists” at the Khawak Pass and that the Taliban had abandoned vehicles and equipment in the Dasht Rewak area. Dashti said that “heavy skirmishes” were going on. Masood said in a Facebook post that Panjshir “stands strong.”
Saleh, who was hiding with Masood in Panjshir, said it was a difficult situation for the resistance forces. “The situation is difficult, we have been attacked. The resistance is and will continue,” Saleh earlier said in a video message.
Meanwhile, a top US general has warned of a “civil war” if the Taliban fail to consolidate power. US General Mark Milley, chairperson of the Joint Chiefs, said: “My military guess is that conditions are likely to build up after the civil war. I don’t know whether the Taliban is going to be able to consolidate power and establish a regime.” of the staff, said.
Milley, speaking to Fox News from Germany’s Ramstein Air Base, said that if the Taliban could not do this then “al Qaeda will reorganize or grow ISIS or myriad other terrorist groups” over the next three years.