Tribune News Service
New Delhi, 23 September
According to sources, the Panjshir resistance may stop for now after its leaders, Amrullah Saleh and Ahmed Masood, leave Afghanistan. Saleh is said to be in Tajikistan, while Masood is in a European country, which is considered to be France.
The leaders and their entourage were allowed to enter Tajikistan after talks between its President Emomali Rahmon and Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan on 18 September, during which the former dropped all notions of supporting the Panjshir resistance.
“The rapid elimination of conflict and tension in Panjshir province by declaring a ceasefire and opening up roads to provide humanitarian aid is one of the most important tasks today,” the Tajik president said in a statement.
The result of the meeting was that Saleh was allowed to stay in Tajikistan. The Tajik President also expressed the hope that the interests of all political and ethnic groups in Afghanistan would be taken into account. A few days later, the Taliban also selected a businessman from the Panjshir Valley as one of their deputy ministers in the caretaker cabinet to signal their willingness to accommodate non-Pashtuns in the government.
Saleh drew adverse publicity after pro-Taliban social media handles allegedly showed the recovery of dollars and gold bricks from Saleh’s residence. A few days ago, his elder brother Rohullah Saleh was captured and killed by the Taliban during a search operation in the Panjshir Valley.
Sources said the withdrawal of key members of the National Resistance Front (NRF) shows that any other country is reluctant to provide a back base for the Panjshir militants. The NRF also could not succeed in expanding its resistance beyond the borders of the valley, except in some neighboring districts with Tajik populations.