Clashes Erupt in Northern Afghanistan as Taliban Pursue Talks With Former Foes

The Taliban fought fatal battles with the budding resistance forces in northern Afghanistan, as political negotiations on a broader govt moved forward in Kabul and accessibility to the city’s U.S.-run airport remained difficult for hundreds of Afghans striving to flee.

Though most of Afghanistan’s military and safety forces collapsed, some of the Taliban’s most focused foes have retreated to the Panjshir valley northeast of Kabul, pledging to continue on the fight from the country’s only province not under Taliban sway.

They contain the fallen Afghan republic’s protection minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who promises to be Afghanistan’s reputable leader after President Ashraf Ghaniabandoned his responsibilities and fled the place Aug. 15 and Ahmad Massoud, a son of renowned Panjshiri commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.

Online video posted on social media confirmed casualties and battling among Taliban forces and anti-Taliban militias in the Andarab valley of the northern Baghlan province, adjoining Panjshir, and big convoys of Taliban reinforcements in U.S.-acquired Ford Rangers and Humvees traveling the Islamist movement’s white flag.

Though the militias in Baghlan are allied with the forces in Panjshir, they acted independently in attacking the Taliban, stated Ali Nazary, head of international relations for the new Nationwide Resistance Front that is based in Panjshir and consists of some 1,000 Afghan military commandos who refused to surrender when the rest of the navy melted away, and some helicopters.