New Delhi: Amid the Taliban claiming takeover of Afghanistan's Panjshir province, Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the National Resistance Front, on Sunday said they are ready to cease fighting and start negotiations if the Taliban leave the province.
In a statement posted on Facebook, Ahmad Massoud, said "The National Resistance Front fully support the call of the honourable scholars to remove the compensation on Panjshir and hopes that the Taliban will take this Islamic and humanitarian demand seriously...We agree to solve the current problems and to stop the war and continue the process of negotiations and hopes that the Taliban will take practical steps to the demand of the honourable scholars. We are ready to stop the war immediately in order to achieve stable peace if the Taliban ends its military attacks and movements in Panjshir and Andarab.."
Read: Taliban claim control of all districts in Panjshir, resistance forces deny
Massoud further said that the Taliban's attack on areas where people do not trust their sovereignty according to Taliban records is against the law. "We suggest that the Taliban stop their military attacks on Panjshir, Andarab, Parwan and Kapisa and remove their forces. In return, the National Resistance Front will guide its forces to avoid military movements," Massoud said.
Massoud added that the National Resistance Front is committed to peacefully resolving the disputes with the Taliban in accordance with religious and moral principles. "The front is sure that the future system of the country will be able to deal with the Taliban and other groups and sects representing the Afghan people through a peaceful conversation. There is an understanding that all the groups and parts of the country are in the mirror of their brotherhood and are beneficial and committed to its deployment," his statement read.
Read: Spokesperson of Resistance Front in Afghanistan Fahim Dashti killed in Panjshir province
Hours after Massoud's statement, the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan put out a statement on their Facebook page confirming the killing of Fahim Dashti, a spokesman of the Resistance Front and a close aide of Massoud, in fighting in Panjshir province on Sunday. Dashti was a senior member of the Jamiat-e-Islami party and a member of the Federation of Afghan Journalists, as reported by the local media.
Though some media reports quoted Taliban leaders as saying they have seized the Panjshir valley north of Kabul and were in control of entire Afghanistan, there is no official confirmation on the same. The leaders of the Resistance Front have denied the Taliban's claim, saying that they had re-captured the Parian district of Panjshir from the Taliban on Sunday and had inflicted heavy casualties on the group.
Clashes erupted between the Taliban and the Resistance movement on Thursday in Gulbahar, the entrance gate of Panjshir province as political efforts failed to forge an agreement between the two sides. Panjshir is the only province that remains out of the Taliban's reach since the group's seizure of power in Afghanistan two weeks before the US was set to complete its troop withdrawal from the war-torn country.
