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Developments in Afghanistan

Panjshir resistance ready for talks if Taliban withdraw troops — resistance leader

Earlier, a group of religious leaders came out with an initiative of peace talks between the Taliban and the NRF

CAIRO, September 5. /TASS/. Resistance forces in Afghanistan’s northern Panjshir province, which steadfastly refuses to recognize Taliban (outlawed in Russia) authority, are ready to cease fire and sit down at the negotiating table if the Taliban withdraw forces from the region, resistance leader Ahmad Massoud said on Sunday.

"The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) welcomes a resolution on an immediate ceasefire [in Panjshir] that was passed by the Ulema Council in Kabul. <…> We insist the Taliban stop their attacks and provocations against Panjshir, Andarabad, Parwan, and Kapisa and withdraw their troops from Panjshir and Andarabad. In this case, the NRF leaders will order their forces to cease fire," he wrote on his Facebook account.

Earlier on Sunday, a group of religious leaders came out with an initiative of peace talks between the Taliban and the NRF.

Meanwhile, spokesman for the Taliban political office in Qatar Muhammad Sohail Shahin told TASS on Sunday that the Taliban was controlling almost the entire Panjshir province while spokesman for the resistance movement Fahim Dashti wrote on his Twitter account that the Taliban have been driven out of the province.

After the Biden administration announced the end of its US military operation in Afghanistan and the launch of its troop pullout, the Taliban 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.

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