Surrounding Panjshir Valley, Taliban Calls For Militia To Lay Down

The wreck of a Soviet Union tank after the failed capture of Panjshir. (Wikimedia Commons/Teddy Wade, US Army)

JAKARTA - The Taliban are calling on the militant groups who oppose them in Panjshir, to lay down arms, build peace by underlining they have 'locked up' militant positions.

In a recorded speech addressed to Afghans in Panjshir, senior Taliban leader Amir Khan Motaqi called on the insurgents to lay down their weapons.

The Taliban have laid siege to the only remaining province that defies its rule, a senior leader said on Wednesday, calling on the insurgents to negotiate a settlement with the group.

Since the fall of Kabul on August 15, the Panjshir mountains have been the only province holding out against the Taliban, although there has also been fighting in neighboring Baghlan province between the Taliban and local militia forces.

Under the leadership of Ahmad Massoud, son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, one of the main leaders of Afghanistan's anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s, several thousand members of local militias and remnants of army and special forces units have held out against the Taliban.

In a recorded speech addressed to Afghans in Panjshir, senior Taliban leader Amir Khan Motaqi called on the insurgents to lay down their weapons.

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is home to all Afghans," he said, citing Sky News Sept. 1.

The Taliban has declared an amnesty for all Afghans working with foreign forces over the past two decades, but crowds fearing retaliation continue to flock to the border in an attempt to escape the landlocked country.

Motaqi said the Taliban had made a lot of efforts to negotiate with the leaders of the opposition forces in Panjshir.

"But unfortunately, unfortunately, without any results," said Motaqi regarding the efforts to negotiate with the militia groups.

The Taliban forces are making preparations around the four sides of the Panjshir valley and there is no reason to go to war, Motaqi said, adding anti-Taliban forces should remember that it is impossible to defeat the Taliban even with the support of NATO and US forces.

The remarks came after at least seven Taliban fighters were killed in an attempt to advance into the valley, according to two insurgent leaders.

Separately, the Italian Emergency Relief Group said four dead and five wounded had been sent to a trauma hospital in Kabul from fighting around the Gulbahar area at the entrance to Panjshir.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Afghan National Resistance Front, which groups troops in the Panjshir valley said on Wednesday that Taliban forces had launched an offensive two days ago, and had attacked in three or four different areas, but had so far been repelled.

Earlier, Ahmad Massoud said he was ready for peace talks with the Taliban who seized power in Kabul. However, he and his troops are always ready to fight.

"We want to make the Taliban realize that the only way forward is through negotiations," he told Reuters by telephone from his stronghold in the Panjshir valley northwest of Kabul.

"We don't want war to break out," said the man who managed to gather a troop consisting of remnants of the regular army units and special forces and local militia fighters.

The wreckage of Soviet armored vehicles that still fill the valley shows how hard the Panjshirs were in the past. However, many outside observers questioned whether Massoud's army would have been able to last long without outside support.