Extremely eye news reporter Zhang Yang
According to the Russian Satellite News Agency reported on September 4, Afghan Taliban spokesman Vilar Karimi tweeted that they had taken control of the Shutur, Paryan, Hanhe and Anabe regions in Panjshir governorate and were continuing to advance.
However, according to the Russian news agency, Fahim Dashti, spokesman for the anti-Taliban force "National Resistance Front" in Afghanistan's Panjshir Province, also posted news on Twitter on the evening of the 4th that since the morning, about 600 Taliban soldiers have been killed in many areas of the province, and more than 1,000 Taliban soldiers have been captured or surrendered.
The two sides of the battle disagreed, and the conflict surrounding Panjhir, the last province in the mountains northeast of Kabul, which was not controlled by the Taliban, also attracted the attention of the world for a while.
Heroes of national resistance and Afghan national resistance front
Former Vice President Amarura Saleh, who claims to be Afghanistan's "left-behind president," has remained in Panjahir province since Kabul was controlled by the Taliban, claiming to be building a resistance against the Taliban.
Soldiers of the Afghan National Resistance Front
The resistance he is talking about is the Afghan National Resistance Front (NRF), but the establishment of the Afghan National Resistance Front (NRF) has little to do with Saleh.
Currently, the NRF controls Panjshir province. The group was founded by 32-year-old Ahmed Masood, the son of Ahmed Shah Masood, Afghanistan's famous national resistance hero, Ahmed Shah Masood.
Masood Jr., the son of local resistance hero Masood, founded the NRF
Masood was a well-known guerrilla commander who was one of the main leaders of the resistance movement against the Soviet Union.
During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, many anti-Soviet guerrillas emerged, the most famous of which was Masood. In that 10-year war, Massoud used Panjhir as a base to compete with the Soviets in this canyon for 9 rounds, and with the strength of the Soviet army, it was still in the sand in the area.
In the 1990s after the withdrawal of the Soviet army, Masood was already a strong force in Afghanistan, and he formed the Northern Alliance with other armed forces, still using Panjhir as a base to jointly resist the Taliban that swept through Afghanistan at that time.
It wasn't until two days before the 9/11 attack in 2001 that Massoud was assassinated.
In Kabul's Massoud Square, a Taliban soldier stands next to a poster with an image of Masood
As the only military general in the anti-Taliban coalition who has never fled Afghanistan, Masood enjoys great prestige in Afghanistan, and a large number of people come to his cemetery every year to pay their respects.
Inheriting his father's political legacy and military prestige, Pony Sod founded the NRF and vowed to fight the Taliban to the end.
The Panjshir Valley
In fact, as can be seen from the map, Panjshir Province is a narrow valley, flanked by steep mountains, with only one main entrance and exit when coming from Kabul, and the terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Map of the Panjshir Valley area
The terrain of the Panjshir Valley is extremely suitable for defense, and the vast mountainous areas on both sides of the valley are very conducive to guerrilla warfare. Therefore, even if the attacking troops can break the defense and enter the area for a while, they still have to face the continuous harassment and attack of the guerrilla forces, and finally have to withdraw. Such was the case with the mighty Soviet army, which was resisted by the indomitable Afghan guerrillas.
To this day, the area still has the tanks that the Soviet army had been crippled, known as the "tank cemetery", and the numerous tank wreckage seems to show the cruelty of the war.
A valley where everything is closed
The history of successfully repelling the invasion on many occasions has made the NRF, which has always been based in the region, confident that it can once again repel the Taliban offensive.
Nazari, the NRF's head of external relations, told BBC reporters at the end of August: "The history of the last 40 years shows that no one can conquer our region, especially the Panjshir Valley. The Soviet army was unable to defeat us with its might, and 25 years ago we repelled the Taliban who wanted to invade, and let them fail miserably. ”
A war of great disparities in strength
Despite their tough talk, the NRF is about to face the Taliban, which has more than 200,000 people and a lot of grain and grass weapons, and they have captured a large amount of military equipment, mainly provided by the United States, including armored vehicles and artillery, and the balance of strength is very large.
NRF leader Masood Jr. published an op-ed in the Washington Post on Aug. 18 calling for help from the West.
"No matter what happens, my jihadist fighters and I will defend Panjahir as the last bastion of Freedom in Afghanistan," he said. Our experience tells us how to fight, and our morale is intact. But we need more weapons, more ammunition and more supplies. ”
When will peace come?
Under the current circumstances, the Taliban have taken control of areas of Afghanistan except panjahir province. Before the exchange of fire between the two sides, the international community had called on both sides not to open fire and to solve the problem at the negotiating table.
Nazari, the NRF's head of foreign relations, said, "We like peace, and we will prioritize peace and negotiation." But he added, "But if peace talks fail, if we don't see the sincerity of the other side, if we see the other side trying to impose their will on us, then we will resist to the end." ”
Soldiers of the Taliban
Today, the war between the two sides has begun, and the situation around the region is not clear for a while.
How long will it take for Afghanistan, a land ravaged by war for so long, to usher in true peace?
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