The valley mounting a concerted resistance effort against the Taliban, Panjshir, has now been cut off from the world as the insurgents have disconnected their telephone and internet services, sources told CNN-News18.
Sources said the Taliban has cut off telephone and internet services in the area to stop internal communication between the forces of the second resistance formed after the insurgent group took over Afghanistan in a rapid blitz of cities and provincial capitals mid-August.
The Taliban wants to stop former Vice President Amrullah Salleh from creating any form of awareness against the militant group or talk about a nexus between the Taliban and Haqqani network in the devastating Kabul airport blast that took place Thursday.
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The sources revealed that the Taliban feel Amrullah’s knowledge may supersede intelligence information as he was in the government, adding that the group also believes attacking Panjshir would be easier in the lack of communication in the valley.
Sources from Panjshir told CNN-News18 the Taliban are attempting to put “psychological pressure” on the resistance, adding that the impact would be “severe” on civilians, internally displaced people in the area, functioning hospitals. They added that however, the move would have no impact on military preparedness as “contingencies had been planned”.
“It is a crime. Depriving people from access to basic services is what Milošević did. It is a massive crime,” the sources from Panjshir said. Slobodan Milošević was the former president of Serbia accused of heinous war crimes in in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo between 1991 and 1999.
Panjshir: Hotbed of Resistance
The Panjshir valley is one of the the last remaining hotbeds of resistance in Afghanistan at the moment. Saleh, accompanied by Ahmad Massoud, the son of assassinated military commander and former Minister of Defense of the Islamic State of Afghanistan Ahmad Shah Massoud, have both taken refuge in the area and called for an uprising against the Taliban.
The Panjshir valley plays a crucial role in this uprising against the Taliban, who now wreck havoc against citizens, despite their assurances of being ‘moderate’ in their rule.
Saleh was born in Panjshir in 1972 to a Tajik family, was orphaned at a young age. He was raised in the heart of where the resistance began under the leader of the resistance, Ahmad Shah Massoud, and joined the movement at a young age. The leader’s sister was tortured to death by Taliban fighters in 1996, according to reports. “What happened in 1996 changed my perception of the Taliban permanently,” Saleh wrote in an editorial for Time magazine. He fought alongside his leader and as part of the Northern Alliance to take down the Taliban.
In an exclusive interview to CNN-News18, Saleh had highlighted the security situation in the Panjshir valley, saying: “It’s perfect. We are in control of the situation. I move around with minimum security. It’s an area which has an exceptional reputation.”
Reports of Settlement?
The Telegraph had reported on August 24 that opposition fighters Panjshir are preparing for a “settlement” in the absence of resources and international support.
It wasn’t too many days ago that Ahmed Massoud had vowed he would not surrender to the Taliban. “I write from the Panjshir Valley today, ready to follow in my father’s footsteps, with Mujahideen fighters who are prepared to once again take on the Taliban,” he wrote in the Washington Post newspaper. “We have stores of ammunition and arms that we have patiently collected since my father’s time because we knew this day might come.”
He added, however, that his forces – which reportedly numbered more than 6,000 – would need international support. He called on aid from France, Europe, the US and the Arab world, saying they had helped in his father’s fight against the Soviets and the Taliban 20 years ago.
However, the tide seems to have turned as the Taliban were in position near the Panjshir Valley and had retaken three districts in northern Afghanistan that fell to local militia groups last week, a spokesman said Monday, though there were no confirmed reports of further fighting.
An adviser to Massoud, whose identity The Telegraph did not disclose, said the 32-year-old was looking for a way to capitulate with his honour intact. “Panjshir can’t fight the Taliban, the Taliban have overwhelming forces,” the adviser said. “This is not the 1980s or 1980s, the Taliban have battle hardened fighters.”
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