Taliban: Fighters Are Heading to Panjshir Valley
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Ahmad Masoud expresses his desire to hold "peace talks" with the Taliban, stressing that he does not “want a war."
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The son of the late Afghan leader Ahmad Masoud
The Taliban movement announced, on Sunday, that "hundreds” of its fighters are heading to the Panjshir Valley north of Afghanistan's capital Kabul, where armed forces are attempting to organize their ranks and confront the movement.
“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 movement wrote on its Arabic Twitter account.
Furthermore, thousands of people have made their way to Panjshir since the Taliban took control of the country, to both join the fight and find a safe haven to continue their lives.
Former Afghan government forces forming a resistance movement in the valley are preparing for "long-term conflict", but are also seeking to communicate with the Taliban, their spokesman Ali Maisam Nazary told AFP.
In the Panjshir Valley, Ahmad Masoud, the son of the late Afghan leader Ahmad Shah Masoud, who was assassinated by Al-Qaeda two days before the September 11, 2001 attacks, has gathered a fighting force of approximately 9,000 members, according to Nazary.
Moreover, Masoud stated on Sunday, that he hopes to negotiate with the Taliban, adding that his forces are also prepared for conflict, and if the Taliban do not negotiate they will be met with resistance across the country.
"We want to make the Taliban realize that the only way forward is through negotiation," he told Reuters by telephone.
"We do not want a war to break out," he added.
The comments came just hours after a field officer in the Haqqani Network announced that Masoud pledged allegiance to the "Islamic Emirate" declared by the Taliban.
