The Taliban Wednesday called on fighters in the holdout bastion of the Panjshir Valley to lay down their arms, as the resistance movement said it had warded off heavy attacks.
The rugged mountain valley with towering snow-capped peaks – which begins around 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the capital Kabul – is the center of Afghanistan's most important pocket of armed anti-Taliban forces.
The National Resistance Front (NRF), comprising anti-Taliban militia fighters and former Afghan security forces, has vowed to defend the enclave as the Taliban sends fighters to encircle the area.
"My brothers, we tried our best to solve the Panjshir problem with talks and negotiations ... but unfortunately all in vain," senior Taliban official Amir Khan Muttaqi said, in an audio message to the people of Panjshir posted on Twitter.
"Now that the talks have failed and the mujahedeen (Taliban) have surrounded Panjshir, there are still people inside that don't want the problems to be solved peacefully," he added. "Now it is up to you to talk to them," the Taliban message to the Panjshir people said, as reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Those who want to fight, tell them it is enough," he cautioned.
Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, formally Afghanistan's defense minister before the government fell last month, said the Taliban had launched a renewed assault on Panjshir Tuesday night.
"Last night the Taliban terrorists attacked Panjshir, but were defeated," Mohammadi tweeted Wednesday, claiming 34 Taliban were killed and 65 wounded. "Our people should not worry. They retreated with heavy casualties," he added.
Residents and fighters in Panjshir, many of whom fought the Taliban when they were last in power from 1996 to 2001, offered a defiant message.
"We are ready to defend it till the last drop of our blood," said one resident. "Everyone has a weapon on their shoulder and ready to fire," another said. "From the youngest to the oldest, they all talk about resistance," he added.
Meanwhile, the Taliban was said to be on the verge of forming a government on Wednesday, after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) there was still no exact information about the timing. He also left open whether Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada would appear in public for the first time since the group took power.
"We are waiting," Mujahid said.
A senior Taliban leader later said that the new Taliban government, which is expected in the coming days, will not include any high-ranking officials from the previous governments in Afghanistan. In an interview with the BBC, the deputy head of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, said the group is trying to form a government that has domestic and international support.
However, Stanikzai emphasized that the government would not include figures who held posts as ministers, governors, generals or other key positions during the past 20 years. Instead, the Taliban official said they will bring "new faces” from all tribes and minority groups into the government who they consider to be "Muslim, pious and talented.”
About women’s participation in the government, Stanikzai said he did not think women would be appointed to senior posts but that they would have a role.
The Taliban swiftly took power in a series of offensives last month, conquering most cities and provinces without resistance. Shortly before the militants took over the country, the former president, Ashraf Ghani, fled the country. Governments around the world responded by rushing to evacuate their citizens and some of their local staff fearful of reprisals and repression by the militants.
Leaders worldwide continue to watch whether the Taliban makes good on promises to respect certain rights, while also weighing how to handle an expected rush of refugees from Afghanistan.
