WhatsappAccording to a spokesman for Ahmad Massoud, the leader for the National Resistance Front (NRF) said that their fighters held off an initial Taliban assault on the Panjshir Valley – killing 7 Taliban fighters.
The Panjshir Valley has become the heart of the resistance movement against the Taliban due to its natural defenses and large percentage of ethnic Tajik’s. Neither the Soviets in the 1980s nor the Taliban in the 1990s were able to conquer the strategic valley.
Ahmad Massoud has teamed up with the now deposed vice president or acting president of Afghanistan Amrullah Saleh in organizing what appears to be a Russian backed resistance force against the Taliban. Russian President Putin recently gave advanced weaponry and supplies to Tajikistan. There are rumors that Tajikistan is supplying the NRF with the Russian weapons and supplies. Tajikistan has already said that it will not recognize Taliban controlled Afghanistan.
According to an Indian report published week, Tajikistan has already begun delivering weapons:
“In a massive show of support for the Afghanistan Resistance rising against the Taliban, the Northern Alliance received military equipment, weapons, and other supplies from Tajikistan on Monday morning. The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, led by Ahmad Massoud has given a bloody nose to the Taliban in several districts, forcing the terrorists to surrender.”
The shift to actively helping the NRF is not surprising as already last week as reported in the Moscow Times, Russia indicated that it was nervous that the Taliban posed a threat to Russia.
“Of course Russia is concerned. We still don’t know what the intentions of the Taliban are and how effectively they can control the country,“ said Andrei Kortunov, the general director of the Russian International Affairs Council, a foreign policy think-tank close to the Russian government.
“There are legitimate concerns about other organizations, including al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Russia should also be worried about the potentially catastrophic socioeconomic situation in the country as global aid dries up. It is too early to be calm,” Kortunov said.
While most observers seem to think the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan is a foregone conclusion – Putin’s involvement in backing the Massoud-Saleh coalition means that there will be a viable force to push back on the Taliban. This is why Ahmad Massoud is so confident. Between Panjshir’s natural defenses and Russian support Massoud and Saleh have the beginnings of something big.
With the Taliban losing 7 fighters to the Panjshir based resistant movement, the war over Afghanistan appears to be far from over – especially with Russia involved.
As I wrote yesterday:
“The coming conflict between the Northern Alliance gathering in Panjshir Valley and the Taliban can best be seen through the Russia-China prism. The Chinese as they have been are backing the Taliban and Russia is funneling weapons, other supplies, and money to the Tajik dominated Northern Alliance through Tajikistan.“
This conflict is the first of the post American world – a world dominated by Chinese hegemonic yearnings and powered by AI driven Big Tech and Big Pharma. As America continues to fade – Russia will attempt to stake claim to some of the surrounding areas before China solidifies its holdings, but at the end the dragon of Beijing will win even if they don’t take all of Afghanistan just yet.
