With hundreds of Taliban reportedly heading towards the Panjshir valley, a picture of Amrullah Saleh, first vice president in the Ashraf Ghani administration, has emerged on the Internet. Saleh had joined the anti-Taliban resistance force led by Ahmad Massoud. Led by anti-Soviet mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud’s son, the resistance is based out of the Panjshir valley, situated northwest of Kabul.
In the latest picture that has gone viral on social media, Saleh can be playing volleyball with resistance fighters in Panjshir valley.
Saleh had in a tweet last week said that, as per the Afghan constitution, he is legitimate caretaker President of Afghanistan in Ghani’s absence. But his claim is yet to be recognised by any country or international body such as the United Nations.
Meanwhile, the Taliban said that hundreds of its fighters are heading for the Panjshir Valley, currently the centre of the resistance in war-ravaged Afghanistan.
Hundreds of “mujahideen” are heading towards the state of Panjshir to control the province, Sputnik reported citing a news agency. The Taliban entered Kabul last week after a months-long offensive, prompting the civilian government to collapse. After the fall of the Ghani government, Panjshir remains the epicentre of the resistance led by Massoud and Saleh.
According to the Russian news agency, members of the Taliban are waiting for an order to attack the holdout Panjshir province northeast of the Afghan capital of Kabul.
Earlier on Sunday, the Taliban offered Ahmad Massoud to surrender. Meanwhile, Massoud said that they would not surrender and that the locals were ready to fight. Massoud also said that he and his supporters wanted a peaceful solution and were ready to negotiate an inclusive government with the Taliban, but the group declined the offer.
“If the Taliban try to seize control of Panjshir valley, resistance fighters will be ready to resist, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, one of the main leaders of Afghanistan’s anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s,” Ahmad Massoud told Al Arabiya. He further added he wants to bring the conflict to an end.