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In Panjshir, Few Signs of an Active Resistance, or Any Fight at All - The New York Times

In Panjshir, Few Signs of an Active Resistance, or Any Fight at All - The New York Times

In Panjshir, Few Signs of an Active Resistance, or Any Fight at All - The New York Times
Sep 17, 2021 2 mins, 24 secs

Torn posters of martyrs from previous wars at the entrance to the Panjshir Valley, Afghanistan, this week.Credit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times.

PANJSHIR, Afghanistan — In this lush strip of land — walled off from potential invaders by high mountain peaks and narrow, ambush-prone passes — former mujahedeen fighters and Afghan commandos regrouped in the days after the Taliban toppled the Afghan government, vowing to fight to the last man.

With its history of resistance and its reputation for impenetrability, the Panjshir Valley seemed an ideal place for a determined force of renegades to base an insurgency.

6, however, the Taliban claimed to have captured the entire province of Panjshir, a momentous victory in a region that repelled numerous Soviet offensives in the 1980s, and had remained beyond the Taliban’s control during its rule from 1996 to 2001.

On the sides of the road, posters of fallen resistance fighters from previous wars had been torn down.

During those weeks of fighting and even after, reports of the Taliban committing human rights abuses against captured resistance fighters and civilians circulated on social media.

This report was denied by some Taliban officials, while others said it was true.

Earlier this week, Basir Abdul, who spent 40 years living in Germany exporting cars to Afghanistan and the Middle East, made his way home through the Panjshir Valley, which he found largely deserted.

A surgical and maternity hospital in the valley received 60 to 70 people with conflict-related injuries in recent weeks, said Dr.

Further along the winding road, deep the side valley of Dara-e Hazara, a blockade spanned the road, manned by armed fighters with thick Panjshiri accents.

Who are the Taliban leaders.

Nazary, the resistance spokesman, denied the claim.

Behind the Panjshiri fighters flew the green, white and black flag of the Northern Alliance, repurposed to signify the National Resistance Front, which is led by Ahmad Massoud, son of Ahmad Shad Massoud, the leader assassinated in 2001.

But villagers said that the Taliban had long been active in the valley, and that their takeover had been negotiated by some of the residents.

Days earlier, photos of the partially destroyed tomb, in a dramatic hilltop mausoleum overlooking the valley, appeared on social media alongside accusations that the Taliban had ransacked the place.

“This wasn’t our work,” one of the Taliban guards said.

When the Taliban first entered Panjshir, Sahar, 17, and her family barricaded themselves at home, thinking the resistance would eventually chase the Talibs away.

Neighbors started to flee, said Sahar, whose last name is being withheld to protect her identity.

Her uncle and cousin were stopped at a Taliban checkpoint near the village, she said, where they were beaten and ordered to turn over their weapons and the names of resistance fighters

Sahar fainted three times from dehydration, she said, and her mother had blisters and swollen feet

“We don’t know what will happen,” Sahar said by phone from Kabul

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