Anti-Taliban Forces Keep Resistance Alive In Afghanistan's Panjshir

The rugged mountain valley with towering snow-capped peaks -- which begins around 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the capital Kabul -- is the centre of Afghanistan's most important pocket of armed anti-Taliban forces.

The Taliban on Wednesday called on fighters in the holdout bastion of the Panjshir Valley to lay down their arms, as the resistance movement said it had repulsed heavy attacks. The rugged mountain valley with towering snow-capped peaks -- which begins around 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the capital Kabul -- is the centre of Afghanistan's most important pocket of armed anti-Taliban forces. The National Resistance Front (NRF), comprising anti-Taliban fighters and former Afghan security forces, have vowed to defend the enclave as the terror group sends fighters to encircle the area. "My brothers, we tried our best to solve the Panjshir problem with talks and negotiations... but unfortunately all in vain," senior Taliban official Amir Khan Muttaqi said, in an audio message to the people of the Panjshir posted on Twitter.