Taliban claim to have captured parts of Panjshir after days of fighting
Kabul, Sep 4 (EFE).- The Taliban on Saturday claimed to have captured half of the contested districts in Panjshir province, the last area of Afghanistan with an armed resistance movement.
In a statement to Efe, Taliban spokesman Bilal Karim said the Islamist group had inflicted heavy casualties among opposition ranks and had captured four of eight districts in Panjshir, a mountainous area to the northeast of Kabul.
“The enemy is in panic and some of them have already started to surrender to our Mujahideen” he said.
A member of the resistance militia whose area was captured by the Taliban told Efe on the condition of anonymity: “The situation is difficult in Panjshir, thousands of Taliban rushed on the province from all directions from all neighboring provinces and the resistance forces are under unprecedented pressure”
He said there is no exact information about the Taliban advances or capture of the districts because telecommunication systems were fully down in the province.
Taliban have cut off telecommunication services and supply routes to Panjshir for the past several days, raising concerns about the humanitarian situation in the province.
“We hope the civilians in the area will be dealt with based on humanitarian laws,” Haneef Atmar, former Afghan foreign minister, said on Twitter.
He called on the warring parties in Panjshir to exercise patience and “let the negotiation teams address the issue through peaceful means.”
The resistance forces in Panjshir include thousands of local fighters and remnants of the Afghan security forces.EFE
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