|
Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2021 13:19:27 GMT -7
Dutch Broadcasting FoundationHeavy fighting in Panjshir valley, Taliban fighters claim victoryAfghan resistance movement and anti-Taliban forces conduct military training at the Malimah area of Dara district in Panjshir province on September 2.There are reports of heavy fighting in the last stronghold against the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Panjshir Valley. Three Taliban sources tell Reuters that their fighters have taken over the valley, but there is no confirmation and the status of those sources is unclear. The resistance movement in Panjshir contradicts the claim, the Taliban leaders in Kabul say nothing about it.
"The Taliban's propaganda machine continues to spread false claims," a spokesman for the National Resistance Front (NRF) told the BBC. Former Vice President Saleh, who joined the resistance in Panjshir province, has denied reports that he has fled the country. "The resistance continues and I continue," he said on Twitter.Heavy lossesAfghan resistance movement and anti-Taliban forces conduct military training at the Malimah area of Dara district in Panjshir province on September 2.Both resistance fighters and the Taliban claim that they inflicted heavy casualties on the opponent. Journalists cannot verify those reports because they are not on site. "But it seems very likely that the Taliban have made progress," said correspondent Aletta André.
It is the fourth day in a row of fierce fighting between Taliban militias and the NRF. The battle has escalated in the past 24 hours, according to international media. These are based on spokespersons for both parties and on observations of the local population.Hundreds killed or injuredAn NRD commander claims his forces killed or injured hundreds of Taliban fighters. They would also have disabled dozens of vehicles. But spokesmen for the extremist Taliban movement again contradict this.
For their part, the Taliban said today that they have captured a number of districts in Panjshir province, followed later by reports that they have taken control of all of Afghanistan. The losses at the NRF are high, according to the Taliban.
Cameraman Zaki Yousfzai, soundman Mohammad Samim Yousifi, lightman Mahboob and security adviser Mohammad Nadeer Anwari made the trip to the Panjshir valley last week.
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2021 13:33:59 GMT -7
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2021 13:52:16 GMT -7
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2021 13:53:56 GMT -7
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Sept 4, 2021 4:17:11 GMT -7
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Sept 4, 2021 4:58:53 GMT -7
Folks,
The people who inhabit the Panjshir valley are Tajik people. There are about 5,000,000 Tajik's in Afghanistan, where they constituted about one-fifth of the population. Another 40,000 Tajik's lived in the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang in China. The Tajiks constitute almost four-fifths of the population of Tajikistan. In the early 21st century there were more than 5,200,000 Tajiks in Tajikistan and more than 1,000,000 in Uzbekistan (that is 4.9% of the Uzebekistan population). There are 8–27 million Tajik people in the world. In Pakistan live about 221,725 Tajik people, in the Russian Federation 201,000 Tajiks, 52,00 in the United States of America, 50,121 in Kazakhstan, 7,500 in Kyrgyzstan, 39,642 in China, 15,870 in Canada and 4,255 in Ukraine. The First languages Tajik people speak are Persian languages (Dari and Tajik) and Secondary: Pashto, Russian and Uzbek. Dari is a sort of communication language between various Afghan ethnic peoples and tribes. My Afghan colleague told me that most Afghan people speak or understand Dari next to their own languages. Thus Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Balochi people, Hazara, Aimac, Pashayi, Nuristanis, and even Afghan Arabs -from the war with the SovjetUnion- understand Dari as a communication language and Afghan language. Dari is important next to Tajik, Pashto, Uzbek, Russian, Iranian Farsi (Persian language like Dari), Urdu, Hindi & Punjabi language (the languages of Hindu Indian and Indian Sikh minorities in Afghanistan) and Hazaragi (the language of the Hazara people, an Asiatic Shia Muslim minority in the Sunni Muslim Majority country Afghanistan).Tajik man with traditional cap | Traditional dresses, Clothes design, TajikistanA woman wearing the traditional Tajik attire made of fabric embroidered in the Chakan style. Image Credit: TwitterTajik girl in traditional Tajik costumeThe Tajiks were the heirs and transmitters of the Central Asian sedentary culture that diffused in prehistoric times from the Iranian plateau into an area extending roughly from the Caspian Sea to the borders of China. They built villages of flat-roofed mud or stone houses and cultivated irrigated fields of wheat, barley, and millet. Their gardens were famous for melons and a variety of fruits. Their crafts were highly developed, and their towns along the caravan routes linking Persia, China, and India were centres of trade. Turks subsequently migrated westward into the area inhabited by the Tajiks. The latter became Turkicized in their culture, though many retained their Iranian language.
Ahmad Shah Massoud (September 2, 1953 – September 9, 2001) was an Afghan politician and military commander of Tajik heritage. He was a powerful guerrilla commander during the resistance against the Soviet occupation between 1979 and 1989. In the 1990s, he led the government's military wing against rival militias; after the Taliban takeover, he was the leading opposition commander against their regime until his assassination in 2001. Massoud's byname, "Lion of Panjshir" (Persian: شیر پنجشیر, "Shir-e-Panjshir"), earned for his role during the Soviet occupation, is a rhyming play on words in Persian, as the name of the valley means "five lions". Massoud was the only chief Afghan leader who never left Afghanistan in the fight against the Soviet Union and later in the fight against the Taliban Emirate. In the areas under his direct control, such as Panjshir, some parts of Parwan and Takhar, Massoud established democratic institutions. One refugee who cramped his family of 27 into an old jeep to flee from the Taliban to the area of Massoud described Massoud's territory in 1997 as "the last tolerant corner of Afghanistan".
Ahmad Shah Massoud
Ahmad Shah Massoud
Ahmad Shah Massoud as a military commander in Afghanistan and leader of the Northern Alliance, Afghan allies of the USA which received massive Airsupport of the US-Airforce, and defeated the Taliban in 2001 together with the US army, special forces of the CIA and the US-Airforce.
The Wall Street Journal referred to Massoud as "The Afghan Who Won the Cold War", referring to the global significance of the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan for the subsequent collapse of the Eastern Bloc.
Tajik men on the rood in Tajikistan
Wikipedia writes about the Tajiks; "Tajiks (Persian: تاجيک، تاجک, Tājīk, Tājek; Tajik: Тоҷик) are a Persian-speaking Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Tajikistan, and the second-largest in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. They speak varieties of Persian, a Western Iranian language. In Tajikistan, since the 1939 Soviet census, its small Pamiri and Yaghnobi ethnic groups are included as Tajiks. In China, the term is used to refer to its Pamiri ethnic groups, the Tajiks of Xinjiang, who speak the Eastern Iranian Pamiri languages. In Afghanistan, the Pamiris are counted as a separate ethnic group.
A young Afghan Tajik male, like there are many in the Panjshir valley, which is inhabited by Tajiks
A young Afghan Tajik Shepherd in Afghanistan
Characteristic interesting face of an Afghan Tajik male in one of Afghanistan's valleys
Tajik children in Tajikistan
Tajik children in Afghanistan
As a self-designation, the literary New Persian term Tajik, which originally had some previous pejorative usage as a label for eastern Persians or Iranians, has become acceptable during the last several decades, particularly as a result of Soviet administration in Central Asia. Alternative names for the Tajiks are Eastern Persian, Fārsīwān (Persian-speaker), and Dīhgān (cf. Tajik: Деҳқон) which translates to "farmer or settled villager", in a wider sense "settled" in contrast to "nomadic" and was later used to describe a class of land-owning magnates as "Persian of noble blood" in contrast to Arabs, Turks and Romans during the Sassanid and early Islamic period."
Cheers, Pieter
Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica and encyclopedia Wikipedia
|
|
|
Post by Jaga on Sept 4, 2021 5:03:36 GMT -7
Pieter, I wish these free people a good luck, but this would not last forever.
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Sept 4, 2021 5:38:05 GMT -7
Jaga,
Have you seen the colorfull dresses of the Tajik women and girls. The Sovjets did't manage to capture the Panjshir valley in the period 1978-1989, nor did the Taliban in the poeriod 1996-2001. A multi-talented writer, photographer, and filmmaker, Tajik Anisa Sabiri shows through her work the power art can have to connect audiences from around the world. While she started her career as a poet and journalist, she also worked as an art manager, lawyer, and recently as the filmmaker of an award feature film, The Crying of Tanbur, 2018.Modern Center of Dushanbe, Tajikistan | Rudaki Park.Cheers, Pieter
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Sept 4, 2021 5:50:54 GMT -7
Jaga,
I think that the West has a moral obligation to supply the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan with armes. The the National Resistance Front under the leadership of the Afghan politician and military leader Ahmad Massoud, the son of anti-Soviet military leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, is also called the Second Resistance, a military alliance of former Northern Alliance members and other anti-Taliban fighters who remain loyal to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan was created after the 2021 Taliban offensive, under the leadership of the Afghan politician and military leader Ahmad Massoud and the first vice president of Afghanistan Amrullah Saleh.
he group exercises de facto control over the Panjshir Valley, which is largely contiguous with Panjshir Province and, as of August 2021, is "the only region out of the Taliban's hands". The alliance constitutes the only organized resistance to the Taliban in the country, and is possibly planning an anti-Taliban guerilla struggle. The resistance has called for an "inclusive government" of Afghanistan; one of their objectives is speculated to be a stake in the new Afghan government.
On 17 August 2021, Saleh—citing provisions of the Constitution of Afghanistan—declared himself President of Afghanistan from the base of operations in the Panjshir Valley, and said that he would continue military operations against the Taliban from there. His claim to the presidency was endorsed by Massoud and former Afghan Minister of Defence Bismillah Mohammadi along with the Afghan embassy in Tajikistan and its ambassador Mohammad Zahir Aghbar.AnalysisAccording to The Economist, the resistance's cause "looks forlorn".The Independent mentions concerns that the fighters in Panjshir are likely to be outmatched as Taliban fighters have captured or acquired western-made military weapons and equipment with artillery and aircraft during the offensive.
An anonymous Afghan journalist said that the group needs to start making plans for a drawn-out resistance against the Taliban if they are to hold Panjshir. Analyst Bill Roggio also argued that the Panjshir resistance's "prospects are bleak", although their base was well-defendable, and Saleh could rely on a wide network of potential supporters across the entire country.
Afghan specialist Gilles Dorronsoro from Sorbonne University said that Taliban forces could enforce a lockdown on Panjshir, since it was not a major threat. There was also a concern with Saleh and Massoud coming from different political backgrounds, with the latter not having the same level of charisma as his father, even though both oppose the Taliban. Kim Sengupta said that support for the resistance would depend on how unpopular the Taliban were and how far people would be willing to stand up against them despite the Taliban's insistence that they would not allow their fighters to persecute people who had worked with the previous government or with NATO-led forces.
David Loyn suggested that the resistance had a better chance of gaining more support from Afghans of other ethnic groups resisting the Taliban if Saleh were seen as the head of a broad coalition rather than only representing Tajiks. Loyn said that the rest of the world might have a reason not to recognize the Taliban if the fighters continued to face the Taliban and recapture territory.
Foreign Policy stated that there are generations of Afghans who had not previously experienced life under Taliban rule and were likely to resist. They stated that if the Taliban continued to target persons with links to the former government, then support for resistance would grow, but that support would drop if a future government included Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah.
Kaweh Kerami warned that if the Taliban are able to defeat the Panjshir fighters, they'll be able to rollback the gains made by the international community in developing Afghanistan and to check against its activities. However, he also said that there will be resistance if the Taliban's ideas on an inclusive government will include a few "weak" politicians from previous government administrations.ReactionsRussian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov labeled the resistance as "doomed" and that the resistance would fail. Zhirnov further stated that Saleh's proclamation of caretaker president is unconstitutional and added that they have "no military prospects". Zhirnov also stated his plans to mediate talks between the Resistance and the Taliban.
Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov labeled the resistance of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan in the Panjshir valley as "doomed"
Former Indian Chief of the Army Staff Shankar Roychowdhury said that the Government of India must reach out to Panjshir-based resistance forces alongside Taliban factions that may be friendly to India.
Former Indian Chief of the Army Staff Shankar Roychowdhury believes India should support anti-Taliban resistance forces in Afghanistan such as the the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan in the Panjshir valley
Bilal Y. Saab, an ex-Pentagon senior advisor, and Mick Mulroy, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, Marine veteran and ex-CIA Special Activities Center operator, argue that Washington DC should provide support in Afghanistan by allowing the CIA to station its officers with counterterrorism responsibilities to secretly assist anti-Taliban resistance groups.Bilal Y. Saab, an ex-Pentagon senior advisor argues that Washington DC should provide support in Afghanistan by allowing the CIA to station its officers with counterterrorism responsibilities to secretly assist anti-Taliban resistance groupsMick Mulroy, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East argues that Washington DC should provide support in Afghanistan by allowing the CIA to station its officers with counterterrorism responsibilities to secretly assist anti-Taliban resistance groupsSource: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Resistance_Front_of_Afghanistan
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Sept 4, 2021 6:06:28 GMT -7
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Sept 4, 2021 6:23:24 GMT -7
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Sept 4, 2021 6:25:27 GMT -7
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Sept 4, 2021 6:27:28 GMT -7
A video of late August
|
|
|
Post by pieter on Sept 4, 2021 6:32:15 GMT -7
|
|