Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan’s self-proclaimed acting vice-president denied claims that he had fled from Panjshir, but he said that the situation is very difficult. Taliban sources told Reuters news agency that they had seized the area, but the resistance fighters they are battling denied this.
The fighting between the Taliban and the resistance is Panjshir left hundreds dead.
Panjshir is the only province of Afghanistan that is still out of Taliban control. The valley, north of the capital Kabul, is one of Afghanistan’s smallest provinces.
The traditional anti-Taliban stronghold is home to somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 people and is hidden behind mountain peaks.
As the Taliban controls most of Afghanistan now, one province continues to hold out — Panjshir. The National Resistance Front (NRF) based out of the Panjshir Valley, led by Ahmad Massoud and the former Vice-President Amrullah Saleh, now stands as the last bastion against the malaise of Taliban hegemony.
Ahmad Massoud has been fighting back the insurgents in coordination with former Defence Minister General Bismillah Mohammadi and the ex-Vice President of Afghanistan Amrullah Saleh, who has taken charge of the country.
While Ahmad Massoud is the son of the legendary Afghan military commander and politician Ahmad Shah Massoud. Known as the “Lion of Panjshir”. His father successfully fought the Soviets who invaded in the 1980s, and the Taliban in the 1990s.
Ahmad Massoud had said the he would follow his father’s footsteps as he is ready to shed blood but not give up.
In a video message sent to the BBC, Mr. Saleh, a former vice-president said that the claims that he fled from Afghanistan are all baseless as he is recording the video sitting in the Panjshir valley itself.
“The situation is difficult no doubt, we are under the invasion of the Taliban, the Al Qaeda and terrorist groups from the region and beyond as usual backed by the Pakistanis” he said
He assured through sending the video message that he did not flee, or injured as claimed. All these claims are baseless.
He also stated that the resistance is not going to surrender, it’s not going to bow to terrorism, it is going to continue to fight.
