Panjshir leader Ahmed Masood did not leave Afghanistan: report

Ahmed Masood, the leader of the resistance forces in the Panjshir Valley, is still in Afghanistan, but 70 percent of Panjshir’s main roads are under Taliban control, Iranian news agency Fars reported, citing people familiar with the situation. Fars reported on Saturday that rumors that Masood, the son of the late former Afghan guerrilla commander Ahmed Shah Massoud, had left Afghanistan for Turkey or elsewhere, were false and that the resistance leader was said to be in a safe place.

The Taliban have said they have captured Afghanistan’s Panjshir province, the last resistance stronghold in the country, a claim denied by the Masood-led National Resistance Front (NRF) and former Afghan vice-president Amrullah Saleh, who called himself caretaker. President declared. . Panjshir was the last Afghan province against the Taliban, which came to power last month and has now declared an interim government. The NRF said that resistance forces are present at all strategic locations in the Valley to continue fighting.

“In recent days, the Taliban entered Panjshir and now 70 percent of the main roads and routes are under their control, but the valleys of Panjshir are still under full control of popular forces,” said Qasim Mohammadi, of whom Masoud close to, was quoted by Fars as saying.

Ahmed Masood called for a “national insurgency” against the Taliban in an audio message sent to the media last Monday. According to Al Jazeera, Ahmed Massoud said, “Wherever you are, inside or outside, I call on you to launch a national rebellion for the dignity, freedom and prosperity of our country.”

Last Wednesday, the ambassador of the deposed Afghan government to Tajikistan said that Ahmad Shah Massoud and Amrullah Saleh had not fled Afghanistan and that their resistance forces were still fighting the Taliban. Zahir Aghabar, the envoy to Dushanbe under the government of ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, said he was in regular contact with Saleh and that the resistance leader was out of normal communication for security reasons.

“Ahmad Masood and Amrullah Saleh have not fled to Tajikistan. The news of Ahmed Masood leaving Panjshir is not true; he is inside Afghanistan. I am in constant contact with Amrullah Saleh, who is currently in Panjshir and runs the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Government,” he said during a press conference.

A video going viral on social media purportedly shows a Taliban fighter at the spot where Amurallah Saleh shot a message.

Meanwhile, Saleh’s nephew said on Saturday that the Taliban shot and killed Amrullah Saleh’s brother and his driver in Panjshir province. Shuresh Saleh said his uncle Rohullah Azizi was driving somewhere in a car on Thursday when Taliban fighters stopped him at a checkpoint. “As we hear at the moment, the Taliban shot him and his driver at the checkpoint,”.