Panjshir's calm mountains another name for deception

It may be too early for the Taliban to declare a complete victory in Afghanistan. In Panjshir, the strength of resistance lies in the mountains where the tranquility can be deceptive, writes senior journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah

New Delhi: Known to be the 'valley of the brave', Panjshir is not just one valley, but a series of about 21 connected sub valleys that are mostly located along the Panjshir river that snakes its way down from the Hindukush girdled by tall 3,000-metre-high peaks all along the way. The about 100-km long valley is connected to the road from the northern Kabul plains by a mountain pass not very far from which is the provincial capital of Bazarak.

The longish valley with craggy peaks, a very rocky outcrop and the deep gorges, is home to a clan of mostly Tajik people who take fierce pride in their fighting prowess especially in guerilla-style 'hit-and-run tactics'. It helps bleed the invading adversary over a long period of time. The disadvantage is clear for the invaders or the outsiders as opposed to the locals who simply have to melt into the mountains to hit back at a time and place of their choosing.

The beautiful but difficult land and its untamed people have triumphed with their banners of revolts from the time of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC when Panjshir was part of the Bactria-Sogdiana region, to the times of colonial Britain, the Soviet Russians, and even during the first stint of the Taliban from 1996 to 2001 when the Northern Resistance led by the legendary Ahmed Shah Massoud came into being.

It is not that no one had been able to enter the valley—like for the instance of the Soviets who occupied it before they had to abandon the valley in the face of incessant insurgency in the form of guerrilla attacks.

Therefore, even as a black turbaned unidentified Taliban official raised the white-coloured Taliban flag atop the residence of the governor of Panjshir at about 7.30 am on Monday (September 6, 2021), it by no means signified the end of resistance against the Taliban that had taken control of the war-ravaged Afghanistan in a series of 'blitzkrieg' offensives that began on May 1. By August 15, Kabul was taken.

Predictably, on Wednesday, National Resistance Force (NRF) leader and foreign affairs spokesperson Ali Nazary said in an interview to a TV channel: "The Taliban haven't taken the province, they have only taken the main road and the provincial centre is located near the main road. So this is why they were able to hoist their flag."

Narzary added that Afghans are answering the NRF's calls for an uprising against the Taliban. NRF comprises thousands of fighters including Tajiks, resistance fighters from the Afghan National Security Force and others, well-equipped with a range of weapons and ammunition.

Meanwhile, protests by anti-Taliban organizations, women's rights activists and others have rocked several places in the country including Kabul where some have questioned Pakistan’s role in the state of affairs in Afghanistan. On Monday, the NRF's main leader Ahmad Massoud had issued a clarion call for a national uprising.

On Tuesday, Ahmed Wali Massoud, brother of the late Ahmed Shah Massoud, said: "Anyone who knows the geography of the region (Panjshir) knows that they (Taliban) have come and taken a road, but Panjshir has many valleys. Therefore, do not think that they have taken control of the area because they took control of the road."

"We still have thousands of fighters in the valley who can return at any time. We were hit, but we are not dead, we are still alive," he said while speaking at a seminar organized by a Swiss university and the permanent mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations in Geneva. An important factor in tribe and clan centric Afghanistan that may have in it the underpinnings of an uprising is that the Taliban is largely Pashtun-dominated as are the members of the Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund-led 33-member interim government announced by the Taliban in Kabul on Wednesday.

On the other hand, the erstwhile Afghan army was dominated by the Tajiks. Panjshir is home to one of the thickest concentrations of Tajiks in the country. According to a 2020 study by noted scholar and researcher Michael Izady, of the country’s 3.9 crore population, Pashtuns from 38.5 per cent, Hazaras 25 per cent, while Tajiks and Uzbeks comprise 21 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.