Stage set for Panjshir showdown; Resistance refuses to bow down to Taliban

The stage is set for a bloody showdown as Ahmad Massoud, leader of the Panjshir resistance, has declared that he would not go down without a fight.

Afghan security forces patrol on a Humvee vehicle at Parakh area in Bazarak, Panjshir province on August 20, 2021, after the Taliban stunning takeover of Afghanistan. Photograph: Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFPGetty Images

With the siege of Kabul completed, the Taliban has now set sights on the Panjshir Valley which is the base of resistance operations.

The stage is set for a bloody showdown as Ahmad Massoud, leader of the Panjshir resistance, has declared that he would not go down without a fight.

Convoys comprising hundreds of Taliban militia are reportedly moving towards the last major outpost of anti-Taliban resistance.

An Afghan armed man supporting the Afghan security forces against the Taliban pictured with weapons at Parakh area in Bazarak, Panjshir province. Photograph: Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFPGetty Images

Confirming the development, the Taliban's posted on its Twitter account in Arabic that the 'Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate' were heading towards Panjshir after local state officials refused to hand it over peacefully.

Speaking to Al Arabiya, Ahmad Massoud, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, said that if the resistance could confront Soviet Union in the past, it could defend its territory from the Taliban as well. 

Ahmad's father, Ahmad Shah Massoud was one of the top leaders of the anti-Soviet Union resistance in the 1980s.

In an editorial in Washington Post, Massoud said that the resistance had stores of arms and ammunition that they had collected over the years. 

Massoud said that if the Taliban launched an assault, they will face the collective might of the resistance.

It took the Taliban merely weeks to take control of the country and surround capital Kabul before marching in without any opposition from the Afghan defence forces.

Newly absorbed personnel in the Afghan security forces take part in a military training in Bandejoy area of Dara district in Panjshir province. Photograph: Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFP/Getty Images

Experts say that while the Taliban may not be able to get a walkover in Panjshir Valley, the resistance finds themselves outnumbered and in need of international assistance.

Meanwhile, reports are coming in of resistance fighters ambushing the Taliban convoy en route to Panjshir.

Media reports said that on Sunday night, the Taliban were targetted at Andrab district of Baglan province, adjacent to Panjshir. Around 300 Taliban fighters are reported to have been killed in the ambush.