translated from Spanish: Taliban say they have gained ground in the last stronghold of Afghan resistance

The Taliban said on Saturday that they have managed to take control of four of the eight districts that make up Panjshir, the only one of the 34 Afghan regions that has not yet fallen entirely into the hands of the Taliban. The mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate (as the Taliban call themselves) made significant advances in Panjshir and our fighters have captured four districts, including the districts of Paryan, Khenj, Anaba and Shotul,” Bilal Karimi, a Taliban spokesman, told EFE. The spokesman said abshar, one of the districts in the region, “is almost 90 percent under our control,” which would raise its conquest to more than half of the area after several days of intense attacks. In the last 24 hours, the attacks caused significant casualties on the opposition side of “several commanders (and) dozens of militiamen and soldiers,” Karimi said, adding that “a large number of their checkpoints and bases have been captured by our mujahideen.” Our mujahideen are advancing towards the center of Panjshir and the enemy is in a panic. Some of them have already begun to surrender to our mujahideen,” so “we hope that the remaining parts of Panjshir will be captured soon,” he said. A member of the Afghan resistance who requested anonymity explained to Efe that the situation in Panjshir is difficult, since “thousands of Taliban rushed into the province from all directions, from all neighboring provinces, and the resistance forces are under unprecedented pressure.” The source, who is in one of the provinces captured by the Islamist formation, added that they do not have exact information on the taliban’s advances or the capture of districts because the telecommunications system is completely down and it is almost impossible to coordinate information. In recent days, with the intensification of attacks, fighters cut off telecommunications services and all supply routes to Panjshir province, raising concerns about the humanitarian situation that could unfold in the region. Panjshir is the only one of the 34 Afghan provinces not currently under Islamist control, after the group captured the remaining 33 regions in less than two weeks, culminating in the capture of Kabul on August 15. The forces in Panjshir are led by former Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan’s self-proclaimed new president after the country fled the country during the former president’s seizure of Kabul, Ashraf Ghani, and Ahmad Massoud, son of the late Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, “the lion of the Panjshir,” a legend for standing up to the Soviets and the Taliban. Panjshir was also the center of resistance against the Islamist group during the previous Taliban regime, between 1996 and 2001, which ended with a US invasion that came to an end just this week after almost two decades of war.

Original source in Spanish