FNR totally defeated: Taliban are now also in charge in Panjshir Valley

The Panjshir Valley has fallen. A week after the departure of the American troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban broke the last resistance here too. The isolated and legendary difficult-to-reach Panjshir Valley, 80 kilometres north of Kabul, has been ‘completely conquered’ by the taliban. Spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed this at a press conference. ,,With this victory, our country is now completely out of the mire of war,” he said. To add cautionary words: ,,The Islamic Emirate watches over rebellions. Anyone who tries to create a rebellion will be fiercely fought.”

Mujahid called on former and defeated government forces, who had fought the Taliban for 20 years, to cease all resistance now and ‘to form new security forces with the Taliban’.

The fall of the Panjshir Valley is a victory full of symbolism. The area is an ancient center of resistance and also a traditional anti-taliban stronghold. The famous commander Ahmed Shah Massoud became a living legend here in the 1980s through his fight against the Russians before he was killed by Al-Qaeda in 2001. The province is still home to the National Resistance Front (FNR), led by Ahmad Massoud, the son of Commander Massoud. The FNR maintains a number of strategic positions in the valley, have not yet been defined. ,” The fight against the Taliban and their partners will continue”, Massoud junior said.
On social media, the necessary Taliban can be seen in government buildings and in the Office of the governor of the province. Islamist fighters celebrate victory in an area deemed impregnable.

The Panjshir Valley held up against the Russians and also against the first Taliban regime (1996-2001). Initially, negotiations were held between the Taliban and FNR, which advocated a decentralised government. Both sides said that they wanted to avoid bloodshed, but that no compromise could be found. The FNR had proposed a cease-fire on Sunday, after apparently having suffered heavy losses over the weekend. FNR spokesman Fahim Dashty was killed.

Iran has condemned the Taliban attack on the Panjshir Valley. Remarkable because the Shia Islamic Republic, which shares more than 900 kilometres of border with Afghanistan, has so far refrained from criticising the Sunni Taliban since their takeover in Kabul.

Nick Schramm is tech savvy with strong engineering education behind. His interest in sciences helps the whole WeeklyNewsReview stuff to keep informed about various topics of the modern technology.