If they win, which is admittedly unlikely, a unified Afghan government may
arise. Either that or they will revert to feuding tribes--in the name of
freedom. [Pure speculation: Is the US headed down the same path?] Eric
Resistance fighters drive Taliban from 3 districts in the mountains north of
Kabul.
The Taliban faced the first armed challenge from former Afghan soldiers and
villagers in the mountains north of Kabul.
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[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/08/21/world/21afghanistan-briefing-resistance2/merlin_193434675_e80fa035-b576-4576-9c2f-e1e167ce733c-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale]
[Afghans opposing the Taliban in Panjshir province.]
Afghans opposing the Taliban in Panjshir province.Credit...Ahmad Sahel
Arman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
[Matthew Rosenberg]<https://www.nytimes.com/by/matthew-rosenberg>
By Matthew Rosenberg<https://www.nytimes.com/by/matthew-rosenberg>
Published Aug. 21, 2021Updated Aug. 23, 2021
The Taliban faced the first armed challenge to their rule as former Afghan
soldiers, aided by villagers, drove the militants out of three districts in the
mountains north of Kabul, according to former Afghan officials.
The fighting took place in remote valleys on Friday, and details of the clashes
were still trickling out. But video posted on social media showed fighters and
civilians tearing down the white flag of the Taliban and raising the red, green
and black Afghan national flag. In a
tweet<https://twitter.com/Muham_madi1/status/1428706778204803073>, the former
acting defense minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, called the fighters “popular
resistance forces,”
“The resistance” he wrote, “is still alive.”
How long it could survive is another question. Afghan troops were said to have
retreated to the area last week as the country’s government and military
collapsed around them, and the United States appeared to have little appetite
for anything that could anger the Taliban, whose goodwill the evacuation
operations at Kabul’s airport is now largely dependent upon.
The fighting was reportedly set off by the Taliban conducting house-to-house
searches, an ironic twist in a war during which Afghan anger at American
searches helped swell the ranks of the militants. Former Afghan officials said
the clashes appeared to have been led by a local police chief who knew he was
not long for his post under Taliban rule.
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The fighting took place in three districts — Pul-e-Hesar, Deh-e-Salah and Bano
— that are about 100 miles north of Kabul but only reachable by poor roads that
wind through the mountains. The fighters claimed to have killed as many as 30
Taliban and captured nearly two dozen more. A pro-Taliban Twitter account put
the militants’ death toll at half that number.
Less than a week after the Taliban swept into Kabul, the militants are already
facing the first stirrings of resistance to their renewed rule. Small groups of
women, fearful that the Taliban will try to reimpose their stringent and often
brutal interpretation of Islamic law, have braved retribution to publicly
demand their rights. Others have simply refused to fly the Taliban’s white
flag, insisting that the Afghan national flag was the only banner they wanted
to fly.
The uprising on Friday took place to the north of the Panjshir Valley, a
strategic sliver of territory where a handful of Afghan leaders were organizing
a force to resist the
Taliban<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/08/18/world/taliban-afghanistan-news/taliban-panjshir-valley>.
While former Afghan officials and reports from witnesses on social media
suggested the uprising was local and spontaneous, one of the main leaders of
the Panjshir resistance movement claimed on Saturday that “we are one.”
Amrullah Saleh, who was the country’s first vice president until this week,
wrote in a text message that his forces and the fighters to the north were
“under one command structure.”
Editors’ Picks
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The Cotton Tote Crisis
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My Roommates Have Been Listening to My Therapy Sessions. Is That OK?
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Mr. Saleh is now styling himself the “caretaker president” of Afghanistan. He
refused to elaborate on the connections he claimed to have to Friday’s
uprising, saying only that “the resistance will grow.”
He added, “Afghanistan is alive and hasn’t become a Talibanistan.”
Guarded by a deep gorge, the Panjshir Valley holds a singular place in Afghan
history. Under the leadership of the famed mujahedeen commander Ahmed Shah
Massoud, it held out against the Soviets in the 1980s and the Taliban in the
1990s and was then used by American spies and special forces operators to
launch the American invasion that would drive the militants from power.
Taliban Takeover in Afghanistan
›<https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/taliban-afghanistan?name=styln-afghanistan®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_2&block=storyline_latest_updates_recirc&action=click&pgtype=Article&variant=show&index=0>
Latest
Updates<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/08/24/world/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-news?name=styln-afghanistan®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_2&block=storyline_latest_updates_recirc&action=click&pgtype=Article&variant=show&index=1>
Updated
Aug. 24, 2021, 8:13 a.m. ET58 minutes ago
58 minutes ago
* The C.I.A. director visited Kabul for secret talks with the
Taliban.<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/08/24/world/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-news?name=styln-afghanistan®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_2&block=storyline_latest_updates_recirc&action=click&pgtype=Article&variant=show&index=2#cia-taliban-william-burns-afghanistan>
* Airbnb says it will give temporary free housing to 20,000 Afghan
refugees.<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/08/24/world/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-news?name=styln-afghanistan®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_2&block=storyline_latest_updates_recirc&action=click&pgtype=Article&variant=show&index=2#airbnb-afghanistan-refugees>
* Afghan Paralympic athletes flee Kabul with the help of Australian sports
stars.<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/08/24/world/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-news?name=styln-afghanistan®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_2&block=storyline_latest_updates_recirc&action=click&pgtype=Article&variant=show&index=2#afghan-athletes-australia>
Is this helpful?
But Mr. Massoud was killed by assassins from Al Qaeda two days before the Sept.
11 attacks and Afghanistan, the Taliban and the world have changed dramatically
in the intervening decades.
The militants are battle-hardened and far better armed after capturing huge
arsenals of American-made weapons as they swept across the country this summer.
The Panjshiris, in contrast, have given up most of their weapons, and lack a
single, unifying leader like Mr. Massoud, though his son is involved in the
current resistance effort.
Most important, there appears to be little international will to back them or
any armed resistance to the Taliban, for that matter.
[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/08/21/world/21afghanistan-briefing-resistance3/merlin_193471293_768b6d28-69d0-4dfb-a838-52fe4d23cca9-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale]
Image
[Afghan security forces move in a convoy through an area of the Panjshir
province on Thursday.]
Afghan security forces move in a convoy through an area of the Panjshir
province on Thursday.Credit...Ahmad Sahel Arman/Agence France-Presse — Getty
Images
The United States and its allies are focused on evacuating people from
Kabul<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/world/asia/biden-afghanistan-kabul.html>.
They are actively seeking cooperation from the Taliban to do so, and so far
the militants have proven somewhat cooperative, eager to show the world that
they are no longer the same brutal zealots who ruled Afghanistan two decades
ago.
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Armed uprisings could quickly change that calculus, prompting the Taliban to
violently clamp down at the very moment when the United States and European
countries are struggling to keep the evacuation
moving.<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/08/20/world/biden-afghanistan-taliban/fear-and-confusion-reign-in-kabul-despite-american-assurances>
Understand the Taliban Takeover in Afghanistan
________________________________
Card 1 of 5
Who are the Taliban? The Taliban arose in 1994 amid the turmoil that came after
the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989. They used brutal
public punishments, including floggings, amputations and mass executions, to
enforce their rules. Here’s more on their origin story and their record as
rulers<https://www.nytimes.com/article/who-are-the-taliban.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-afghanistan&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_3&block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc>.
Who are the Taliban leaders? These are the top leaders of the
Taliban<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/world/asia/taliban-leaders-afghanistan.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-afghanistan&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_3&block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc>,
men who have spent years on the run, in hiding, in jail and dodging American
drones. Little is known about them or how they plan to govern, including
whether they will be as tolerant as they claim to be.
How did the Taliban gain control? See how the Taliban retook
<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/14/world/asia/afghanistan-maps-taliban.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-afghanistan&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_3&block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc>
power<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/14/world/asia/afghanistan-maps-taliban.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-afghanistan&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_3&block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc>
in Afghanistan in a few months, and read about how their
strategy<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/18/world/asia/taliban-victory-strategy-afghanistan.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-afghanistan&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_3&block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc>
enabled them to do so.
What happens to the women of Afghanistan? The last time the Taliban were in
power, they barred women and girls from taking most jobs or going to school.
Afghan women have made many
gains<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/18/world/asia/women-afghanistan-withdrawal-us.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-afghanistan&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_3&block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc>
since the Taliban were toppled, but now they fear that ground may be
lost<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/world/asia/afghanistan-women-taliban.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-afghanistan&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_3&block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc>.
Taliban officials are trying to reassure women that things will be different,
but there are signs that, at least in some areas, they have begun to reimpose
the old order.
What does their victory mean for terrorist groups? The United States invaded
Afghanistan 20 years ago in response to terrorism, and many worry that Al Qaeda
and other radical groups will again find safe
haven<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/17/world/asia/taliban-afghanistan-al-qaeda.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-afghanistan&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_3&block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc>
there.
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American military and intelligence officials said on Saturday they were closely
monitoring reports that Afghan resistance fighters had pushed the Taliban out
of the three northern districts, but there had been no requests from those
groups for American airstrikes or other assistance, and none offered, at least
publicly.
Military officials said they would entertain any such requests very warily at
this point, fearing that any battlefield strikes against the Taliban could
jeopardize the fragile agreement that has been reached with senior Taliban
officials in recent days to allow Americans safe passage to the airport in
Kabul.
The Pentagon has said there are no military or security forces from the Afghan
regime still operating as functioning units in the fight against the Taliban.
Leaders in Panjshir seem to know that any fighting is likely to be seen by the
United States as a distraction that could endanger an evacuation effort that
has already proven disastrously chaotic. Many are furious at what they consider
a betrayal, and not hesitant to say so.
“A super power signed an agreement with a terrorist group. What you see in
Kabul is a massive humiliation for Western civilization,” Mr. Saleh wrote in a
text message earlier this week.
On Saturday, he was even more blunt: “NATO and the U.S. failed,” Mr. Saleh
wrote.
Still, another of the movement’s leaders, Ahmad Massoud, son of the late
Panjshiri leader, sought to drum up American support in an op-ed published
Wednesday in The Washington
Post<https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/18/mujahideen-resistance-taliban-ahmad-massoud/>,
writing that he was ready to “follow in his father’s footsteps” but needed
weapons and supplies to succeed.
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Without them, he acknowledged that his forces could not hold long should the
Taliban decide to fight their way into Panjshir.
The mere fact Mr. Massoud had to make his appeal in public and not in private
meetings with American military or intelligence officials was an indication of
how little enthusiasm there is for his movement in Washington.
Eric Schmitt contributed reporting.
Matthew Rosenberg, a Washington-based correspondent, was part of a team that
won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on Donald Trump and Russia. He
previously spent 15 years as a foreign correspondent in Asia, Africa and the
Middle East.
