Thousands of Anti-Taliban Fighters Can Return 'Anytime', Says Massoud

The Afghan resistance says it still has thousands of fighters in the Panjshir valley. (AFP)
The Afghan resistance says it still has thousands of fighters in the Panjshir valley. (AFP)
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Thousands of Anti-Taliban Fighters Can Return 'Anytime', Says Massoud

The Afghan resistance says it still has thousands of fighters in the Panjshir valley. (AFP)
The Afghan resistance says it still has thousands of fighters in the Panjshir valley. (AFP)

Thousands of fighters opposed to the Taliban can return “anytime” in the Panjshir Valley, said the uncle of a commander who led fierce battles against the extremists, appealing on Tuesday for international support for their cause.

Ahmad Wali Massoud was speaking in Switzerland, one day after the Taliban claimed total control over Afghanistan, declaring that they had won the battle against resistance forces in the mountainous Panjshir Valley, northeast of Kabul.

“We still have thousands of fighters in the valley, and any time they can come back and you will be witnessing that one,” Massoud told a symposium in Geneva.

“Yes, we have been wounded and we have been really wounded, but we have not died, we are still alive,” he added.

Massoud is brother of the late Ahmad Shah Massoud, the legendary anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban commander assassinated by al-Qaeda days before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Shah Massoud’s son, Ahmad Massoud, led resistance to the Taliban in the Panjshir Valley.

On Monday, the Taliban said they had won that battle in what was the last remaining holdout against their rule. They released a video of their flag being raised over the governor’s house in Panjshir.

“Panjshir is not only resistance, (it) is a cause, an international cause,” Massoud told the symposium.

“We are resisting for our own right, for the freedom, for democracy, for the human rights...”

“Probably this is the last opportunity that we can see to really fight terrorism inside Afghanistan,” he added.

“That’s why we should not lose the resistance.”

The National Resistance Front (NRF) in Panjshir -- made up of anti-Taliban militia and former Afghan security forces -- on Sunday acknowledged suffering major battlefield losses and called for a ceasefire.

But on Monday the group said in a tweet that its fighters were still present in “strategic positions” in the valley.



EU Sanctions Iranian Individuals Accused of Targeting Dissidents

European Union flags fly outside the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium November 8, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
European Union flags fly outside the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium November 8, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
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EU Sanctions Iranian Individuals Accused of Targeting Dissidents

European Union flags fly outside the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium November 8, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
European Union flags fly outside the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium November 8, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo

The EU has imposed sanctions on eight people and one entity responsible for the targeting of Iranian dissidents for assassination on behalf of Iran's government, the European Council said in a statement on Tuesday.

The sanctions, over what it called "serious human rights violations" and "transnational repression", included asset freezes and travel bans, the council said.

The Council listed the Zindashti Network, which it said was a criminal group uconnected to the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security that has carried out numerous acts of transnational repression, including assassinations of Iranian dissidents, Reuters reported.

It also included the Zindashti Network's boss Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti - who it said was an Iranian narcotics trafficker and organised crime boss - and some of his associates. Zindashti and his network have previously been sanctioned by the United States.

The Council, the European Union's governing body, is also targeting Mohammed Ansari, the leader of the Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Unit 840, who it said ordered the assassination of journalists critical of the Iran.

It said that the listings confirmed the EU’s concerns about transnational repression by Iranian state bodies through the use of proxy agents, in particular involving criminals and organised crime networks targeting dissidents and human rights defenders across the world, including on EU territory.