The Taliban has claimed victory over opposition forces in the last holdout province of Panjshir, completing their takeover of Afghanistan three weeks after capturing Kabul.
“With this victory, our country is completely taken out of the quagmire of war,” chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Monday.
The anti-Taliban National Resistance Front (NRF), pledged to carry on fighting in Panjshir Valley, saying it is present in “strategic positions” and that “the struggle against the Taliban… will continue”.
The whereabouts of resistance leader Ahmed Massoud and Amrullah Saleh, the former vice president who had joined the resistance after the fall of Kabul, were not immediately known.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has flown to Qatar to discuss the chaotic aftermath of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford reporting from Kabul said the fall of Panjshir to the Taliban was a “very significant moment” for the group and arguably the Panjshiris as well.
“The Taliban had failed up till today in gaining complete control of the Panjshir Valley and so did the Soviets,” Stratford said.
“It seems unlikely that any meaningful resistance against the Taliban because it seems to have been a very convincing victory so far.”
Iran has condemned the Taliban’s military offensive against holdout fighters in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley, as the group claimed it had taken control of the area.
“The news coming from Panjshir is truly worrying,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters. “The assault is strongly condemned.”
Iran had until now refrained from criticising the Taliban since it seized Kabul on August 15. Taliban and opposition forces continue to battle to control the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul with resistance fighters saying they captured hundreds of Taliban troops.
The National Resistance Front (NRF) of Afghanistan, grouping forces loyal to local leader Ahmad Massoud, said on Sunday it surrounded “thousands of terrorists” in Khawak Pass and the Taliban abandoned vehicles and equipment in the Dashte Rewak area.
Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, based in the capital Kabul, reported sources on the ground said hundreds of Taliban fighters had been taken prisoners on Sunday.
“Sources within the valley are saying the NRF are claiming to have captured about 1,500 Taliban. Apparently, these fighters were surrounded,” said Stratford. -Aljazeera
