Ready for talks with Taliban, says Afghan opposition leader Ahmad Massoud as fight in Panjshir valley continues

Photo courtesy: Reuters

Kabul: The leader of the Afghan opposition group resisting Taliban forces in the Panjshir valley north of Kabul said on Sunday he welcomed proposals from religious scholars for a negotiated settlement to end the fighting.

Ahmad Massoud, head of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), 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 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. There was no immediate response from the Taliban.

Massoud, who leads a force made up of remnants of regular Afghan army and special forces units as well as local militia fighters, called for a negotiated settlement with the Taliban before the fighting broke out around a week ago.

Several attempts at talks were held but they eventually broke down, with each side blaming the other for their failure. Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi said earlier on Sunday that their forces had fought their way into the provincial capital Bazarak and had captured large quantities of weapons and ammunition.

RUGGED VALLEY

Panjshir, a rugged valley in the mountains north of Kabul that is still littered with the wreckage of Soviet tanks destroyed during the long war in the 1980s to oust the Soviet presence, has proved very difficult to overcome in the past.

Under Massoud`s late father, Ahmad Shah Massoud, the region long resisted control by both the invading Soviet army and by the Taliban government that previously ruled from 1996 to 2001.

But that effort was helped by supply routes leading north to the border, which were closed off by the Taliban`s sweeping victory last month.

The Panjshir fighting has been the most prominent example of resistance to the Taliban. But small individual protests for women`s rights or in defence of the green, red and black tricolour flag of Afghanistan have also been held in different cities.

Will never give up to Taliban: Massoud

Massoud said that the resistance in Panjshir and protest for the rights of women by women in Afghanistan indicate that people never give up when it comes to standing for their legitimate rights, Khaama News reported.

On Friday night, the war in Panhshir province intensified and there were reports of its collapse which were then denied.

Massoud in his Facebook post wrote that the people of Afghanistan never get tired of resistance and fight for their rights and will strive for a developed and independent Afghanistan.

"The defeat only happens when you give up the fight for your legitimate rights and when you get tired."

Massoud and Amrullah Saleh were reported to have fled to Tajikistan after a heavy conflict between the Taliban and resistance forces in Panjshir but the latter in a video clip said that he is still in the province.

The former Vice President and one of the commanders of Panjshir resistance accused the Taliban of denying humanitarian assistance to the province.

He asked the UN to watch the situation closely and press the Taliban to allow humanitarian aid to the province.

(With agency inputs)