Announces Willing To Negotiate, Taliban Opposition Spokesperson And General Killed In Sunday Fighting

Illustration of a Taliban soldier (Antara/Reuters/Stringer/hp/cfo)

JAKARTA - The leader of the Afghan opposition group fighting the Taliban in the Panjshir valley north of Kabul said on Sunday he welcomed proposals from clerics for a negotiated settlement to end the fighting.

The announcement was made by Ahmad Massoud, leader of the Afghan National Resistance Front (NRFA) making an announcement on the group's Facebook page. Earlier, Taliban forces said they had struggled to enter the provincial capital Panjshir, after securing surrounding districts.

The Taliban previously took control of all of Afghanistan three weeks ago, taking power in Kabul on August 15 after the Western-backed government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

"The NRF agreed in principle to resolve the current issue and immediately end the fighting, resume negotiations," Massoud said in a Facebook post.

"To achieve lasting peace, the NRF is ready to stop fighting on the condition that the Taliban also stop their attacks and military movements in Panjshir and Andarab," he continued, referring to a district in the neighboring province of Baghlan.

A large gathering of all parties with the Afghan clerical assembly could then be held, he said.

Earlier, Afghan media outlets reported clerics had asked the Taliban to accept a negotiated settlement to end the fighting in Panjshir. There was no immediate response from the Taliban.

On Sunday, the NRFA also confirmed its main spokesman, Fahim Dashti, had died during the day. Dashti survived the suicide attack that killed Massoud's father, Ahmad Shah Massoud, on September 9, 2001, just days before the September 11 attacks in the United States.

He has been one of the main sources of updates from the area as the Taliban pressured opposition forces, issuing a series of defiant statements on Twitter, vowing the resistance would continue.

Quoting India Today, the announcement of the death of Fahim and a senior NRFA general was also made on Facebook. Both were killed in fighting with the Taliban in Panjshir on Sunday, reports said.

The Afghan National Resistance Front's Facebook page also issued a statement saying, "With deep touch and regret, we lost two dear brothers and colleagues and fighters today. Fahim Dashty, head of the office of Amir Saheb Ahmad Masoud, and General Sahib Abdul Wadood Zhor, nephew Afghanistan's national hero in the battle against fascist groups. Congratulations on your martyrdom!"

Earlier, Massoud, who leads a force made up of remnants of Afghanistan's regular army and special forces units as well as local militia fighters, called for a negotiated settlement with the Taliban before fighting broke out about a week ago.

Several attempts at talks were held but ultimately failed, with each side blaming the other for their failure.

Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi said on Sunday their troops had managed to get into the provincial capital, Bazarak, and had captured a large amount of weapons and ammunition.

To note, Panjshir is a rugged mountain valley still littered with the rubble of Soviet tanks destroyed during the long war in the 1980s to overthrow the Soviet presence, proving very difficult to conquer since the past.

Under Ahmad Shah Massoud, the region had long resisted control by invading Soviet troops, as well as against the Taliban government that previously ruled from 1996 to 2001. But that effort was aided by supply routes leading north to the border, which were sealed by a landslide victory. Taliban last month.

The Battle of Panjshir has been the most prominent example of resistance against the Taliban. However, small individual protests for women's rights or in defense of Afghanistan's green, red and black flags have also been held in various cities.