Panjshir is surrounded, let’s hold talks: Taliban tell rebels ‘Consensus has TALIBAN PARADE SHOWS OFF been reached, HARDWARE LEFT BEHIND BY new govt soon’ FOREIGN FORCES
Afghanistan’s new rulers ask resistance forces in Panjshir province to end the fighting and negotiate a peaceful settlement
The Taliban have surrounded the only remaining province resisting its rule, a senior leader said on Wednesday, calling on rebels to negotiate a settlement with the group.
Since the fall of Kabul on August 15, mountainous Panjshir has been the only province to hold out against the Islamist group, although there has also been fighting in neighbouring Baghlan province between Taliban and local militia forces.
Under the leadership of Ahmad Massoud, son of a prominent former Mujahideen commander, several thousand members of local militias and remnants of army and special forces units have been holding out against the Taliban.
In a recorded speech addressed to Afghans in Panjshir, Taliban leader Amir Khan Motaqi called on the rebels to put down their weapons. “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is home for all Afghans,” he said.
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The Taliban have declared an amnesty for all Afghans who worked with foreign forces during the past two decades but crowds fearing reprisals have continued to flock to the borders in an attempt to flee the landlocked country.
Motaqi said the Taliban had made many efforts to negotiate with leaders of the opposition forces in Panjshir, “but unfortunately, unfortunately, without any result”.
‘No reason to fight’
Taliban forces are making preparations around the four sides of the Panjshir valley and “there is no reason to fight”, Motaqi said, adding that the anti-taliban forces should keep in mind that it had not been possible to defeat the Taliban even with the support of Nato and US forces.
“We are trying to ensure that there is no war and that the issue in Panjshir is resolved calmly and peacefully,” Motaqi said. The remarks came after seven Taliban fighters were killed during an attempt to advance into the valley.
Qatar’s team in Kabul
A Qatari aircraft landed in Kabul on Wednesday carrying a technical team to discuss the resumption of airport operations after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
“While no final agreement has been reached regarding providing technical assistance, Qatar’s technical team has initiated this discussion based on the other side’s request,” the source added.
The Taliban and other Afghan leaders have reached a “consensus” on the formation of a government and cabinet under the leadership of the group’s top spiritual leader, and an announcement could come in a few days’ time, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
Taliban’s supreme commander Haibatullah Akhundzada will be the top leader of a governing council, Bilal Karimi, a member of the group’s cultural commission, said. Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of Akhundzada’s three deputies, is likely to be in charge of the day-to-day functioning of the government.
“Consultations on forming an inclusive Afghan government within the Islamic Emirate’s leaders with the leaders from previous government and other influential leaders have officially ended,” Karimi said. “They have reached a consensus. We’re
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about to announce a functioning cabinet and government in a few days, not weeks.”
Crowds seeking to flee Afghanistan flocked to its borders while long queues formed at banks on Wednesday, as an administrative vacuum after the Taliban’s takeover posed nationwide problems.
Former Biden interpreter left behind, says report
An interpreter who helped rescue US President Joe Biden in a 2008 Afghan snowstorm is in hiding after failing to join the Kabul evacuation airlift, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Then senator Biden and two other lawmakers were visiting Afghanistan when a snowstorm forced their helicopter to land in a remote area, the Journal reported on Tuesday.
The interpreter, only named in the newspaper as “Mohammed” to protect his identity, was working regularly for the US Army at the time.
A Black Hawk copter flew circles over the Taliban’s spiritual heartland in Kandahar on Wednesday while fighters stood aboard captured Humvees as the Islamists paraded their plundered US military hardware.
On the highway towards Kandahar, a long line of green armoured fighting vehicles drove in single file down, with white-and-black Taliban flags attached to aerials.
Fighters manned the controls of multi-purpose trucks - used earlier by US, Nato and Afghan forces - while others clambered over the vehicles at Ayno Maina, a town outside the city. At Kandahar’s cricket ground, hundreds gathered to listen to speeches heaping praise on the Taliban, while elder leaders sat in the players’ dugout.
The Taliban’s secretive supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is living in Kandahar, the group disclosed last Sunday.
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