Ahmad Massoud hopes for talks but ready for war as Taliban surround Panjshir

Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 23

Ahmad Massoud, the son of the legendary anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, has said he was hoping for negotiations but was ready for war as the Taliban began amassing fighters around the defiant Panjshir Valley.

The Taliban deadline of four hours passed quite some time back and while there were reports of fighting in the neighbouring Baghlan among conflicting claims and counter claims, Panjshir was calm and preparing for the worst.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said his forces have retaken Deh Salah and Pul-e-Hesar districts from Resistance2 in Baghlan province, next to Panjshir.

The social media showed some helicopters reported to have been brought into Panjshir from nearby Tajikistan. This would be a major boost to the Resistance2 fighters but Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) Secretary General of the organisation Stanislav Zas said he had no information when asked if there is an air corridor between Panjshir and Tajikistan for delivering weapons to the only Afghan province that has remained outside Taliban control.

The Afghan First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who is also in the Valley with Massoud, claimed his forces had blocked the vital Salang Highway, but the Taliban said it was under their control.

Saleh also acknowledged that the Taliban have massed forces near the entrance of Panjshir.

Addressing question marks on the unity of all politicians of Panjshir Valley, Massoud said, “The people of Panjshir valley are very much united and they want to defend, they want to fight, they want to resist against any totalitarian regime.”

However, many Afghans on social media said they were weary of war and the warring parties should negotiate.

Meanwhile, the Massoud-Saleh duo has been joined by Yar Mohammad Dostum, the son of Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum who has fled to Turkey after an initial show of bravado against the Taliban at Mazar-e-Sharif. More important, the Dostums are understood to have flown some Mi-35 helicopters and A-29 aircraft to the neighbouring Uzbekistan for safekeeping.