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Kim Sengupta

Fighting Rages in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley as Taliban and Resistance Claim Military Gains


Afghan resistance movement and anti-Taliban forces take part in military training in the Dara district in Panjshir (AFP via Getty)


The last battle in the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan is unfolding in the Panjshir Valley, with a rising tempo of fighting, and time becoming a critical factor in what lies ahead.


Celebratory gunfire in Kabul on Friday night led to at least 17 deaths and more than 40 injuries after the Taliban declared it had captured Panjshir. But the valley had not fallen and the opposition insisted soon afterwards that it had repulsed the Islamists and taken back territory.


The claims and counter-claims of supposed victories from both sides continue.


A Taliban spokesperson, Belal Kareemi, said on Sunday that all areas of Panjshir had been taken except for the capital, Bazarak, and another district, Rokha. The opposition National Resistance Front (NRF)’s version was: “We have allowed the Taliban to enter the valley intentionally and now they are trapped.


“This is a tactic we have used from our playbook from the 1980s, when the Soviets entered the valley. The NRF is all over Panjshir and the Taliban have suffered heavy casualties.”

The Taliban have been saying until quite recently that they would prefer a negotiated settlement in the Panjshir, in much the same way as they have taken over the rest of the country.


Edging closer to international recognition as the new government of Afghanistan, they do not want large-scale bloodshed to erupt and undermine the narrative of seeking stability and not strife.


One senior Taliban official told The Independent: “We have managed to avoid a long civil war with many dead, like the ones after the Russians left. We think that is recognised by other countries, even by the Americans, and it shows that we want peace now in Afghanistan, not more war. We have had peaceful handovers all over the country: that should happen in the Panjshir as well.”


But the negotiations have led nowhere so far. The Taliban claim the opposition has spurned their offers. The resistance say that they did not trust the Islamists, and that the terms offered would have amounted to surrender.


Fighting has meanwhile intensified. Some factions of the Taliban now seek a victory as quickly as possible, while the NRF, on the other hand, want to hold the valley in the belief that time will buy them support.