Seven Talibani Killed In Panjshir
As the last C17 aircraft of the US lifted off, celebratory gunfire began to resounded across Kabul. Taliban fighters took control of the airport after the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops, marking the end of a 20-year war that left the Islamist militia stronger than it was last time.
Meanwhile a large force of Taliban fighters had been moved to the Panjshir area the last strong hold of anti Taliban Forces. The two sides had so far been engaged in negotiations and avoided fighting.
However finally Taliban forces attacked with militia fighters in the Panjshir valley north of the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday night. The Taliban terrorists lost at least seven killed and many more wounded. Since the fall of Kabul on Aug. 15, the Panjshir has been the only province to hold out against the Taliban, although there has also been fighting in neighbouring Baghlan province between Taliban and local militia forces.
Fahim Dashti, a spokesman for the National Resistance Forces, a group loyal to local leader Ahmad Massoud, said the fighting occurred on the western entrance to the valley where the Taliban attacked NRF positions.
The attack, to test the valley’s defences, was repulsed with eight Taliban killed and a similar number wounded, while two members of the NRF forces were wounded. “Last night, the Taliban attacked Panjshir, but were defeated with 7 dead and several wounded,” Bismillah Mohammadi, a member of the resistance movement who served as a minister under exiled President Ashraf Ghani, said in a tweet.
“They retreated with heavy casualties.” It was not immediately possible to reach a Taliban spokesman for comment.
Massoud, son of the former anti-Soviet mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, has established himself in the Panjshir valley with a force of several thousand, made up of local militias and remnants of army and special forces units. He has called for a negotiated settlement with the Taliban but has said his forces will resist if their province in the narrow and mountainous valley is attacked.
