Peace talks on but Panjshir leaders ready to fight back

New Delhi, August 26

Leaders of Resistance 2 and the Taliban held their first negotiations in the town of Charekar, about 50 km away from the Panjshir valley, against the backdrop of Tajikistan President Emamoli Rahmon openly expressing his ire over the treatment of Afghan minorities.

The beginning of the talks in the capital of Parwan province has lowered the tensions around the Panjshir valley and there were no further reports of military probes by fighters of the Taliban, who have captured all surrounding provinces.

"We do have enough military personnel and equipment but we can fight for our values and people if our negotiations won’t work out. Even if we get defeated, the world would know we fought for our people," said Resistance 2 leader Ahmad Massoud. Tajikistan, which shares ethnic kinship with the Panjshir (Five Lions) valley residents, has come out strongly on their side following a surge of concern about their fate under the Taliban rule.

In a hard-hitting statement after the visit of Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to Dushanbe, the Tajik President made it clear that his government "will not recognise any other government that will be formed through oppression, without taking into account the position of the entire Afghan people, especially all its national minorities". — TNS

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