‘We’re Set For Battle, No One Conquers Our Land’ – Afghanistan Militant Group Challenges Taliban

An anti-Taliban resistance group in Afghanistan, the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), says it has thousands of people ready to fight.

The Panjshir region – in particular, the Panjshir Valley is still under the control of the NRF, which was founded by Ahmad Massoud, the son of an Afghan resistance hero, Ahmad Shah Massoud.

Recall that the Taliban took over Kabul, Afghanistan capital, on August 15 after the United States withdrew its troops from the country. The armed group subsequently rebranded the country as the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan.

They are also currently working towards forming a new government. Many countries have evacuated their citizens from the nation over the fear of attacks.

However, in an interview with BBC, head of foreign relations for NRF, Ali Nazary said they are set for battle against the Taliban, stressing that no one would be allowed to conquer their land.

According to him, they prefer peace through negotiation, but, however, said if the Taliban fails to embrace peace, they would resort to using force.

“We prefer peace, we prioritise peace and negotiations. If this fails—if we see that the other side is not sincere, if we see that the other side is trying to force itself on the rest of the country—then we’re not going to accept any sort of aggression.

“And we’ve proven ourselves, our track record in the past [40 years] has shown that no-one is able to conquer our region, especially the Panjshir Valley”, he said.