The Taliban security forces have been locked for months in battle with opposition fighters based in the Panjshir valley. The last province which is yet to be controlled by the Taliban fully is Panjshir. The province has long been an anti-Taliban stronghold, even in 1996 and it was only Panjshir that was fighting against the Taliban. And now since August 2021, when the Taliban regain power, again the only significant pocket of resistance to the group is Panjshir.
Panjshir deadly clashes
The Taliban has intensified the operation and said it has killed 40 members of National Resistance Front (NRF), the opposition group based in Panjshir. Four of the group’s commanders were also killed during the clashes. The clashes came when the Taliban had earlier denied widespread fighting, claiming it had established control of the entire country.
Another 100 NRF fighters were captured alive by the Taliban. However, the news was rejected by the NRF spokesman, calling it unfound. NRF confirmed its eight fighters were detained and then killed by the Taliban.
Videos of mass execution went viral
The shocking scenario is when a video went viral showing Taliban members executing captured members of the NRF. Taliban were blamed for extrajudicial summary executions in Panjshir, but the Taliban said they were investigating the matter.
Sibghatullah Ahmadi, a spokesman for the NRF claimed their forces killed 32 Taliban in the fight, but termed the killing of captured forces by the Taliban as “war crimes.
NRF is headed by Ahmad Masoud, the son of late Ahmad Shah Massoud who played a critical role in the resistance against Soviet occupation in the 1980s and was the center of resistance against the Taliban when it ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
Now his son is up again and NRF forces in May announced an offensive against the Taliban. Located just north of the capital, Kabul, Panjshir is one of the smallest of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.
No more room left for civil war
This is just the beginning. Both sides have now claimed casualties. Since the Taliban and NRF both are on intensive war, this could soon make a new U-turn. The fear is that Afghanistan should not once again push to the era of civil war, igniting ethnic clashes.
Fearing reprisal, a resident in Panjshir told Harici that assaults on Taliban positions are a regular occurrence, and dozens of people have been killed. In return, Taliban arrest civilians on charges of having links with the NRF.
“We are not interested in war, and the Taliban must differentiate between opposition and ordinary Panjshir residents. Taliban should stop arresting civilians” he said. Taliban rejected the allegation of arresting civilians in Panjshir.
NRF declared war right after Taliban entered Kabul in August 2021
When the Taliban swept into Kabul in 2021 and the Afghan military melted away, the NRF members went to Panjshir and said they would never surrender.
Panjshir was one province that Taliban fighters were never able to pacify after taking Kabul for the first time in 1996. Now again, Ahmad Massoud and former vice president Amrullah Saleh, who both fled Afghanistan in late 2021, are continuing to direct operations from exile and are believed to command thousands of fighters.
Saleh was very close to Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was assassinated by al-Qaeda two days before 9/11 attacks on the United States.
Panjshir is a mountains province
Panjshir is a small province, but its mountains make difficult to control it. It’s difficult to get easy access to what happened in one valley and in another. It’s all surrounded by the mountains. Since winter is coming, there is likely be no intensive war but spring has always marked the beginning of Afghanistan’s fighting season, as the weather in the north becomes milder and makes it easier for fighters to maneuver.
NRF in recent days have regularly claimed guerrilla attacks against Taliban forces in Panjshir, forcing the Taliban to appoint one of their senior military commanders, Abdul Qayum Zakir, to counter NRF activities, reportedly leading to the deployment of large number of security forces in and around Panjshir, with air assets supporting ground operations.
There are several reports that Zakir was killed during the clashes last week, but Harici itself could not verify this.
Saleh in a Facebook post on September 23 claimed that Zakir suffered severe back injuries and he was shifted to the foreign countries for medical treatment. He did not specify the name of the country.
Citing sources from Qatar, Saleh also said that Zakir has probably been killed.
Taliban are a winner so far
However, Taliban this time could be seen as a winner. NRF could not pose much threat to the Taliban because they are now a government with all military facilities, unlike they were in 1996.
It is a fact that unlike their previous stint in power, Taliban fighters are now better armed, possessing US armored vehicles and other sophisticated military weapons left behind by the US and NATO militaries following hurried withdrawal in 2021. Taliban forces already reached those valleys and areas in Panjshir that was deemed difficult. Apparently, Taliban are controlling almost entire Panjshir province.
