Taliban Forces Heading Towards Panjshir, The Only Remaining Free Province And Centre Of Resistance

Having already usurped democratic powers in almost all of Afghanistan, the Taliban has said that hundreds of its fighters are heading for the Panjshir Valley which is presently free from its authority and is the centre of the resistance in the war-torn country, reports Hindustan Times.

This comes even as National Resistance Front's Ahmad Massoud has said that he wanted to hold negotiations with the hardline Islamist group but that his forces were ready to fight.

Massoud, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, one of the main leaders of Afghanistan's anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s, said his supporters were ready to fight if the Taliban tried to invade the Panjshir Valley. He emphasised, "We want to make the Taliban realise that the only way forward is through negotiation. We do not want a war to break out."

Massoud has united hands with Amrullah Saleh and has gathered forces made up of remnants of regular army units and special forces as well as local militia fighters. Massoud said, "They want to defend, they want to fight, they want to resist against any totalitarian regime."

Meanwhile, there remains uncertainty over whether the Taliban have begun their operation to capture Panjshir.