'Hundreds of Taliban fighters' heading for holdout Panjshir Valley

Kabul, Aug 22: 'Hundreds' of Taliban fighters were moving to the Panjshir Valley, one of the few parts of Afghanistan not yet controlled by the group.

"Hundreds of Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate are heading towards the state of Panjshir to control it, after local state officials refused to hand it over peacefully," the group wrote on its Arabic Twitter account.

Even as the extremist group took over most part of Afghanistan, Panjshir province, a little over 100 kms away, in the north-east of Kabul, is still free from the Taliban.

In Panjshir, Ahmad Massoud, the son of legendary mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud who was assassinated by Al-Qaeda two days before the September 11, 2001 attacks, has sought to assemble a force of around 9,000 people to counter the militants, the spokesman, Ali Maisam Nazary, told AFP.

Pictures taken by AFP during training exercises show dozens of recruits performing fitness routines, and a handful of armoured humvees driving across the valley northeast of Kabul.

Speaking exclusively to Rueters, Massoud once again said that Panjshir, which has never surrendered to anyone, will not give in to the Taliban as well. But if the Taliban do not agree to dialogue, then war will be unavoidable.

The Resistance force is not only fighting for the Panjshir province. Forces have come from various provinces to Panjshir and they are defending the whole country in one province, he told Rueters.

Panjshir has never been conquered, either by foreigners or the Afghans.