Commander Ameer Akmal of the Popular Resistance Front in Panjshir, Afghanistan’s last major outpost of anti-Taliban resistance, told India Today TV that the Popular Resistance Front is ready for war with the Taliban from any gate and has all the facilities.
According to Ameer Akmal, the vast majority of those who have joined the Popular Resistance Front are young people, soldiers and former jihadi commanders who do not accept captivity and desire a comprehensive and acceptable system for all. ‘Our military facilities are ready for war and we are prepared to fight the Taliban from any gate, peace or war,’ he said. Tucked away in the Hindukush mountains, Panjshir Valley stands like an impenetrable fortress.
With high mountains and narrow valleys, the river Panjshir offers protection. Tajik fighters who grew up on the legend of Ahmed Shah Masoud, the fierce Northern alliance commander who stood up to the Soviets in the 1980s and the Taliban between 1996 and 2001, occupy every road leading to the Panjshir Valley.
The Tajiks are fierce fighters who refuse to submit to the Pakistani-backed Taliban. Several Afghan National Army soldiers have joined the resistance in Panjshir. Nearly 9,000 fighters, including members of the disbanded Afghan defence forces, are reportedly rallying behind Ahmad Massoud and Amrullah Saleh at their base in Panjshir. Hamid, a fighter in the force, said, ‘We have not achieved our goals in the Afghan army. Now we want to defend our homeland and freedom by joining the PRF’.
In the beginning, it was believed that the Taliban mounted an attack to overwhelm the Tajik fighters guarding Panjshir’s routes. Amrullah Saleh, who took over as acting president of Afghanistan after the Taliban took over, told India Today TV in an exclusive interview that Afghanistan rejects dictatorship.
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‘The Taliban claimed that they got a part of Panjshir. It is completely false, we are in control, the morale of the people is very high. We have been able to build consensus among the community, they are not ready to sell the soul of the resistance. We are ready for meaningful negotiation, and also for resistance if the negotiations fail,’ Saleh said.
Taliban commander Mullah Khaksar has said, ‘If we receive an order to fight and occupy Panjshir, we will enter Panjshir within one day. We are not extremists, we do whatever Islam says. Resistance fighters are closely monitoring Taliban plans. It is not their words but their actions that are being monitored. To avoid Talibanisation of Afghanistan, the resistance wants the rights of Afghans to be protected’.
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