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Taliban seeking to worsen humanitarian situation in Panjshir — source

Fahim Dashti, spokesman for the resistance movement, told TASS on Thursday that an agreement on cessation of hostilities with the Taliban was only being negotiated

CAIRO, August 29. /TASS/. The Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia), which has seized power in Afghanistan, is seeking to aggravate the humanitarian situation in the northern province of Panjshir that is refusing to recognize the Taliban, a source in the region told TASS on Sunday.

"The humanitarian situation in Panjshir is stable so far, but the Taliban are seeking to worsen it. They are blocking access to the state-run electricity supplies system. So far, there is enough electricity here, which is generated thanks to local rivers," the source said.

Apart from that, according to the source, the Taliban have switched the region off the national telecommunications system and have partially blocked mobile internet. "Moreover, the Taliban sometimes block roads leading to the province. There are risks that they will block food and fuels supplies, as they did in the [neighboring] Baghlan province," he noted.

Abdul Hafiz Mansoor, who represents Panjshir at talks with the Taliban, said on Wednesday that the first direct talks between delegations from the National Resistance Front (NRF) and the Taliban radical movement had been held in the city of Charikar (the capital of Parwan Province - TASS). According to Mansoor, the sides agreed to continue peace dialogue in order to avoid armed confrontation.

Fahim Dashti, spokesman for the resistance movement, told TASS on Thursday that an agreement on cessation of hostilities with the Taliban was only being negotiated. He said that Panjshir disagrees with the idea of introducing a "symbolic representation of ethnic groups in the government" and insists on forming truly inclusive government bodies.

After the Biden administration announced the end of its US military operation in Afghanistan and the launch of its troop pullout, the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) embarked on an offensive against Afghan government forces. On August 15, Taliban fighters swept into Kabul without encountering any resistance, and gained full control over the Afghan capital within a few hours. Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani said he had stepped down to prevent any bloodshed and subsequently fled the country. Vice President Amrullah Saleh said that under the constitution, he becomes "the caretaker president" in the absence of the president and called for armed resistance against the Taliban.

The northern province of Panjshir is the only pocket of resistance to the Taliban. It is led by Ahmad Massoud, a son of Ahmad Shah Massoud (1953-2001), a once influential leader of Afghanistan’s Tajik community who fought against the Taliban back in the 1990s.