“The scenario is troublesome,” he stated. “Now we have been below invasion of the Taliban. Now we have held floor. Now we have resisted. The resistance just isn’t going to give up, and it’s not going to bow to terrorism.”
He instructed the BBC that rumors of a Taliban victory have been “baseless.” However he admitted that situations within the valley have been troublesome, with the Taliban having reduce off cellphone, web and electrical energy strains.
It was not potential, from competing experiences from the 2 sides, to get a exact evaluation of their respective navy positions. Analysts have stated that the rebels’ chief intention for the second is to carry off the Taliban till late October when mountain snows will preclude navy operations, giving them 5 months or so to restock arms and maybe acquire outdoors assist.
Experiences that the Panjshir Valley had fallen Friday evening touched off bursts of celebratory Taliban gunfire within the capital, killing not less than two. The Taliban’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, later criticized the gunfire and referred to as on fighters to “thank God as a substitute.”
Mr. Mujahid is more likely to be named info minister in a brand new Afghan authorities whose composition has been the topic of rumors for days. The naming of the brand new ruling construction was delayed but once more on Saturday, nevertheless it appeared more and more doubtless that it will embody solely figures from the Taliban motion. That might contradict early recommendations that the group would attain outdoors its ranks in an effort to seem inclusive.
The native department of ISIS, Islamic State-Khorasan, or ISIS-Ok, blamed for the deadly airport bombing in Kabul final month, continued to create issues for the Taliban. A senior official of a distinguished Western support company in Kunduz reported a lot of killings of Taliban members within the final week of August, apparently by ISIS-Ok members, and even the elevating of an ISIS-Ok flag, later taken down.
Pakistan, whose intelligence company, Inter-Companies Intelligence, or I.S.I., has supplied funding and sanctuary to Taliban management for twenty years, confirmed its hand Saturday. Each the Afghan and Pakistani information media reported that the pinnacle of the I.S.I., Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, flew into the Afghan capital for talks.
