600 Taliban terrorists killed in Panjshir; supplies cut off, says Resistance
Amrullah Saleh has urged the UN and other agencies to address the ‘humanitarian crisis’, and expressed concern on imminent genocide
Even as Afghanistan continues to face endless violence and turmoil, over 600 Taliban terrorists were killed in the north-eastern province of Panjshir, agency reports said. With this, the Taliban is facing issues in obtaining supplies from other provinces in the country, an ANI report said quoting a Sputnik report.
“About 600 Taliban have been liquidated in various districts of Panjshir since morning,” tweeted Fahim Dashti, the resistance forces’ spokesperson. “More than 1,000 Taliban have been captured or surrendered themselves.”
Panjshir, the only province out of the clutches of the Taliban, is the stronghold of the National Resistance Front, said the report. The Front is led by Ahmad Massoud, late ex-Afghan guerrilla commander Ahmad Shah Massoud’s son, and Amrullah Saleh, ex-Vice President of Afghanistan. Saleh had declared himself caretaker President after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
Also read: ‘Why should India-Taliban talks be discreet? Why should we be defensive?’
The landmines in the region are impeding the Taliban offensive against Panjshir resistance forces, ANI further said. It quoted a Taliban source as saying that though fighting is still on in Panjshir, it has been hindered by landmines on the road to Bazarak, the provincial capital, as well as to the provincial governor’s compound.
Saleh and Massoud are holed out in Panjshir. The National Resistance Front is in a perilous position, Saleh reportedly admitted. In a video message, he said: “The situation is difficult, we have been under invasion. The resistance is continuing and will continue.”
Humanitarian crisis
Meanwhile, Saleh has written to the United Nations regarding the humanitarian crisis in Panjshir. The province is looking at a “humanitarian catastrophe” that might lead to the “genocide” of Afghan people, he is reported to have said in the letter.
He appealed to the UN and other global aid agencies to mobilise resources urgently to address “this overwhelming humanitarian crisis”.
“Around 2,50,000 people, including local women, children, elderly and 10,000 IDPs (internally displaced people) who arrived in Panjshir after the fall of Kabul and other large cities are stuck inside these valleys and suffering from the consequences of this inhuman blocked (sic). If no attention is paid to this situation, a full-scale human rights and humanitarian catastrophe including starvation and mass killing, even genocide of these people are in the making,” he said.
