As Taliban battles Massoud-led resistance in Afghanistan’s Panjshir, civilians in the line of fire | Deep Dive
India Today
Afghanistan's Panjshir province is once again witnessing fighting between the Taliban and the National Resistance Front (NRF), resulting in loss of lives on both sides.
Panjshir is once again proving to be a hotbed of resistance against the Taliban in the latest round of fighting between the National Resistance Front (NRF) and the fundamentalist group, resulting in loss of lives on both sides.
The Panjshir province is to the north of Kabul and has been at the receiving end of severe war crimes allegedly being committed by the Taliban. This is owing to the demographics of the region, predominantly housing the Tajiks. The Ahmad Massoud-led National Resistance Front in Panjshir provided the last resistance to the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021. Ahmad Massoud is the son of legendary Tajik military commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.
India Today got in touch with locals and experts who track these events closely to get a microscopic view of the events unfolding in the region.
The Taliban has denied all allegations and also that its fighters died while reclaiming parts of Panjshir and other areas such as Andarab.
Speaking exclusively to India Today, Tariq Ghazniwal (@TGhazniwal), a spokesperson of the Taliban, the Taliban’s media head and the current Director-General of the state-run Bakhtar News Agency, says, “There is no fighting; the situation is normal; no incident has taken place; some journalists based abroad and their political leaders want to promote themselves through such conversations and seek refuge and citizenship abroad.”
Ghazniwal was being asked about the tweet shared by Frud Bezhan, a journalist working for Radio Free Liberty covering Afghanistan.