Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the Afghan opposition group resisting Taliban forces in the Panjshir valley north of Kabul, on Monday said resistance forces are still present in Panjshir and continue to fight against the Taliban insurgents and Pakistan. Massoud, who is head of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), also held the international community responsible for “providing the Taliban with the ruinous opportunity that helped them gain political legitimacy and entitlement”.
In a 19-minute-long audio message posted on his Facebook page, Massoud said, “Resistance is still going on against Taliban and Pakistan in Panjshir. I call all scholars and religious leaders to come forward and start resistance wherever they are. We should be together. We should do everything to do resistance everywhere. We should use weapons and slogans both. People should fight for their right and don’t surrender.”
“Taliban shown once again they have not changed and with time they can become more brutal. We should work together to throw these people out of Afghanistan. Taliban offered but we wanted to talk but their talks and actions are different. We will not be under pressure due to these deaths. World has given false ego to Taliban and given them wrong platforms. World will face consequences one day,” he said.
Massoud further said that the Taliban have become more “vicious and cruel”. Talking about the heavy firing by the Taliban insurgents in Panjshir province, he said, “Yesterday’s attack revealed once again that foreign mercenaries supporting the Taliban have always existed, they did so in the past, and will continue to do in the future…The international community was fully responsible for providing the Taliban with the ruinous opportunity that helped them gain political legitimacy and entitlement. They were given chance to show the world that they have reformed and are changed. Whereas, the Taliban have not only remained the same, but have grown more vicious, more cruel, more fundamentalist and more discriminato1y than yesterday. We are bearing witness to this.”
In the message, he also confirmed that “bombardment by Pakistan and Taliban” in Panjshir has killed his family members and his close aide Fahim Dashty. “The NRF will soon announce a new spokesperson. In no way military pressure on us and our territory will lessen our resolve to continue our fight…” he said.
Sending out a message for the people across the world, Massoud said, “We, the people of Afghanistan, are today watchful of the moral calculation of the world and our neighbors, to see who stands in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan against the groups who serve foreign interests. History and the people of Afghanistan will judge their acts, those who come to our aid and those who don’t. We will see the true friends of Afghanistan in this critical moment.”
On Sunday, Massoud had said that he welcomed proposals from religious scholars for a negotiated settlement to end the fighting. He had made the announcement on the group’s Facebook page. Earlier, Taliban forces said they had fought their way into the provincial capital of Panjshir after securing the surrounding districts.
“The NRF in principle agree to solve the current problems and put an immediate end to the fighting and continue negotiations,” Massoud had said in the Facebook post.
“To reach a lasting peace, the NRF is ready to stop fighting on condition that Taliban also stop their attacks and military movements on Panjshir and Andarab,” he said, referring to a district in the neighbouring province of Baghlan.
Earlier, Afghan media outlets reported that an Ulema council of religious scholars had called on the Taliban to accept a negotiated settlement to end the fighting in Panjshir.
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