Resistance in tight spot as Taliban enters Panjshir
Following several days of embarrassment at the hands of Resistance forces’ resolute defence of the Panjshir province, the Taliban militants have finally breached their defences and have taken control of bordering areas, according to multiple reports.
“During the night of Friday 3 September, Taliban forces pushed further into the Panjshir Valley, reaching the village of Anabah,” reported Emergency NGO, a non-governmental organisation that runs a hospital in Anabah, south of the provincial capital of Bazarak.
The update from Emergency NGO follows reports of Resistance forces “trapping” invading Taliban militants after luring them into the Valley and then blowing up a mountain behind them to block their exit, surrounding them and making a tactical retreat very difficult.
Since information is mostly coming from sources either in the Resistance or the Taliban as there is little independent reporting from the frontlines, a fog of war has crept in and it has become difficult to assess the true picture.
“It appears the districts of Anabah, Shotul, Ruhka, and Bazarak are Taliban-controlled and possibly Dara as well,” reported Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and editor of the Long War Journal.
In a statement reported to have been issued on Friday from the Office of Amrullah Saleh, the former First Vice President of Afghanistan appealed to the United Nations, international organisations such as the Red Cross, and the international community at large to respond to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country.
There are around 2,50,000 internally displaced people in the country, tens of thousands of whom have arrived in Panjshir following the fall of Kabul, and they are at a risk of starvation and mass-killings, said Saleh in the statement.
Even as fighting continues following failure of negotiations, Saleh continues to emphasise that the National Resistance Front prefers a negotiated settlement.
“We call on the United Nations and the international community to do its utmost to prevent a Taliban onslaught into Panjshir and encourage negotiating a political solution to ensure thousands of displaced and hosting civilians are saved,” said Saleh in his statement.
Odds stacked against Resistance
The anti-Taliban movement thrived during Ahmad Shah Massoud’s time during 1996–2001 through international support, including from India.
In the absence of such support to Massoud and Saleh, it’s difficult to sustain a military campaign against the Taliban, particularly when a country as militarily potent as Pakistan is supporting the Islamist militant group to the hilt.
In the absence of fresh supplies, war stores and healthcare amenities will get irreversibly depleted, making either a political settlement or an international aid only medium to avoid an ugly end.
As highlighted in an earlier piece, a line of thinking suggested that the National Resistance Front’s tough military posturing was a way to assert themselves strongly in negotiations with the Taliban. Now that those negotiations have failed, the Taliban militants have waged a full-blown campaign against Panjshir.
The presence of the chief of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the movers and shakers of Pakistan, in Kabul ahead of the announcement of the formation of a Taliban government has led to a line of thinking that the Pakistani military and intelligence establishment is now overtly helming the anti-Resistance offensive, which remains the final pocket of the opposition to the Islamist militant group in the country.
The isolation of Panjshir
The Panjshir is isolated not just militarily and internationally, but also politically within Afghanistan as non-Resistance factions still talking to the Taliban are appeasing the group for a place in their government rather than pressing them for a settlement with the Resistance.
Gulbuddin Hekmetyar, a former Mujahideen leader who has previously been the country’s prime minister, has openly come in support of the Taliban.
“People fighting in Panjshir are from the previous government and they don’t want Afghanistan to be secure and stable,” Hekmetyar has been quoted as saying.
Former President Hamid Karzai, who has been holding parleys with the Taliban along with Abdullah Abdullah, has also called “both sides” — the Taliban as well as the Resistance — to arrive at a solution through negotiations and not through violence.
It’s an interesting thought that one’s fight is for an invasion and the other’s is for defence but both of them are equal warmongers for Karzai.
Atta and Dostum out of the picture
Atta Muhammad Nur and Abdul Rashid Dostum, leading anti-Taliban figures of yesteryears, have stayed out of anti-Taliban efforts this time.
Prior to the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, the two leaders had mounted a joint defence of Balkh province centred at Mazar-i-Sharif. However, both leaders fled to the neighbouring Uzbekistan after Afghan military surrendered to the advancing Taliban force and the provincial capital fell to the Islamist militants without a fight.
It was reported earlier that Atta and Dostum intend to join the Resistance’s anti-Taliban efforts with a force of up to 10,000 fighters. However, both the strongmen are now working towards negotiations with the group — the nature of which remains unknown.
Last gasps of the Resistance?
The Resistance does retain some advantages of a favourable, defencible terrain and having the best Afghan fighters — remnants of the now-fallen Afghan military. But that’s about it.
The Taliban have fought for 20 years and they are sitting on the entire US-provided armoury of the erstwhile Afghan military, including air assets, and whatever they might lack is certain to be supplied by their friends from across the Durand Line. It does not appear that the Islamist militants can be fatigued.
The Panjshir Resistance, however, is falling low on arms, food and and medical reserves each minute and there are no known sources of replenishment. The lack of international support is worsened by a blockade from the Taliban.
How long can they hold against an enemy that has an endless access and supply of weapons? It depends on the international response to their calls for help. As DC looks away from Afghanistan, London dines with the Taliban, and New Delhi follows DC’s retreating steps, the picture does not appear to be bright for the Resistance.
As the Observer Research Foundation’s Sushant Sareen wisely wrote, the First Vice President of Afghanistan Amrullah Saleh is the last man standing in the last pocket opposing the Taliban rule. He seems to have been cornered at last.
Madhur Sharma is an Indian journalist. Follow on Twitter at @madhur_mrt.
