The Panjshir valley is valiantly leading the battle against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan
So, now only the Panjshir valley stands between the total capitulation of the rugged, proud Afghans and the unchallenged brutality of the Taliban militia. But what a fight the native fighters are putting on against the mercenaries, yet again! Years ago, Ahmad Shah Massoud (1953-2001), who came from the same region in northern Afghanistan, had taken up the cudgels for fellow countrymen against the rampaging Taliban ahead of their takeover of Afghanistan when they were targeting the Hazaras and the world-renowned Bamiyan Buddhas. The Afghan politician-guerrilla commander was an unafraid voice leading the resistance against the “Soviet occupation” between 1979 and 1989. In the 1990s, he led the Government’s military wing against rival militias; and after the Taliban takeover, he was the leading opposition commander against their regime until his assassination in 2001. Now his son, Ahmad Massoud, is in the same boat as his father, and cut from the same cloth. The enemy is common, so it comes as no surprise that Massoud Junior is not taking the opposition lightly; after all, as with all Pathans and Pashtuns, there’s the issue of bloody revenge at the heart of it all, besides the issue of homeland.
The son and his men have unleashed such fierce resistance and led armed uprising groups against the reposeful Taliban that they have cleared the Baghlan province, Deh Salah and Qasaan of the armed terrorists. Locals also claimed to have killed 40 Taliban fighters. Conveniently, the Taliban have not commented on the conflict yet. In an indirect admission that there is reason for it to worry, however, it has said that “hundreds” of its fighters were heading to the Panjshir valley, the Al Jazeera has reported. Its commanders, though, feel that their ongoing momentum can stem the resistance emanating from the Panjshir valley; “If we can defeat superpowers, surely we can provide safety to the Afghan people”, they claim. Since the Taliban overran Afghanistan, flickers of resistance have begun to emerge with some former Government troops gathering in the Panjshir, long known as an anti-Taliban bastion. Meanwhile, first Vice-President Amrullah Saleh and Massoud Junior have pledged to resist the Taliban and said they will never surrender to them. More than a battle of wits, firepower or perseverance, therefore, it seems the stage is set for a long haul between the intruders and those who belong to democracy.
