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.



Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Says Latest Phone Call with Trump His Most Productive Yet

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
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Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Says Latest Phone Call with Trump His Most Productive Yet

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference in the garden at Marselisborg Castle on the occasion of Denmark taking over the EU presidency, in Aarhus, Denmark, July 3, 2025. (Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix/via Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that his latest conversation with US President Donald Trump this week was the best and "most productive" he has had to date.

"Regarding the conversation with the president of the United States, which took place a day earlier, it was probably the best conversation we have had during this whole time, the most productive," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

"We discussed air defense issues and I'm grateful for the willingness to help. The Patriot system is precisely the key to protection against ballistic threats."

Zelenskiy said the two leaders had discussed "several other important matters" that officials from the two sides would be considering in forthcoming meetings.

Trump told reporters on Friday that he had a good call with Zelenskiy and restated his disappointment at a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin over what he said was Moscow's lack of willingness to work toward a ceasefire.

Asked whether the United States would agree to supply more Patriot missiles to Ukraine, as requested by Zelenskiy, Trump said: "They're going to need them for defense... They're going to need something because they're being hit pretty hard."

Russia has intensified air attacks on Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks. Moscow's forces launched the largest drone attack of the 40-month-old war on the Ukrainian capital hours after Trump's conversation with Putin on Thursday.