Amrullah Saleh, former Vice President of Afghanistan has retreated to the country’s last remaining holdout: the Panjshir Valley northeast of Kabul.
Afghanistan’s former vice president, Amrullah Saleh, on Thursday challenged Taliban and Pakistan’s authority over Afghanistan and urged to not bow to terror groups.
“Nations must respect the rule of law, not violence. Afghanistan is too big for Pakistan to swallow and too big for Taliban to govern. Don’t let your histories have a chapter on humiliation and bowing to terror groups,” he tweeted.
The self-declared ‘caretaker president’, made it clear as the Taliban seized control of the capital on August 15 following the collapse of his government that he will not surrender.
It appears Amrullah Saleh has retreated to the country’s last remaining holdout: the Panjshir Valley northeast of Kabul.
“I won’t dis-appoint millions who listened to me. I will never be under one ceiling with Taliban. NEVER,” he wrote n Twitter on Sunday, before going underground.
Also read: Imran Khan Says Afghans ‘Broke Shackles Of Slavery’ As Taliban Seize Power
A day later, pictures began to surface on social media of the former vice president with the son of his former mentor and famed anti-Taliban fighter Ahmed Shah Massoud in Panjshir — a mountainous redoubt tucked into the Hindu Kush.
Saleh and Massoud’s son, who commands a militia force, appear to be putting together the first pieces of a guerilla movement to take on the victorious Taliban, as fighters regroup in Panjshir.
There are also reports that Afghan soldiers, who managed to evade Taliban troops, have begun arriving in Panjshir at the call of Ahmad Massoud.
Washington Post reporter Ezzatullah Mehrdad tweeted: “Former Vice President Amrullah Saleh, Ahmad Massoud, the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, and coming in former defence minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi are forming a resistance force against the Taliban in Panjshir of Afghanistan”.
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