Negotiations with province’s leaders failed: Militia group

KABUL: The Taliban on Wednesday said that the negotiations with the leaders of the Panjshir province have gone in vain as it is the only province that is still out of the Taliban's reach in the country, a media report said.

Taliban's commission for guidance and encouragement's head Mullah Amir Khan Motaqi said that negotiations with the tribal elders and leaders failed and asked the people of Panjshir province to motivate their leaders, Afghanistan's Khaama Press reported.

The Panjshir valley lies in the Hindu Kush mountains, approximately 90 miles north of Kabul. The Taliban have been unable to take this major holdout of resistance after steamrolling across pro-government troops in a matter of months.

"This is the first time in the recent history of Afghanistan that a newly appointed government announces general amnesty and why should the people of Panjshir still be in trouble and they do not avail themselves of the freedom," Khaama Press quoted Motaqi as saying. Ahmad Massoud (the son of famous Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud and one of the leaders of the resistance against the Taliban) and Amrullah Saleh (former Afghan government first vice president) are presently in Panjshir valley and trying to mount a challenge to the Taliban. Motaqi has stressed that the occupation has ended and it is the great pride for entire Afghanistan but people in Panjshir province are still against the Taliban.