Taliban Claim Control Over Panjshir Valley, but Resistance Vows to Fight On
The New York Times
Militants posted images apparently taken in Bazarak, the capital of Panjshir Province in Afghanistan, where opposition forces have fought against their rule.
The Taliban claimed on Monday to have captured the Panjshir Valley, the last bastion of Afghanistan not firmly under their control, even as representatives of the opposition forces there maintained that they still had control over strategic positions in the region and vowed to fight on. The conflicting accounts of what was happening on the ground in the area 70 miles north of Kabul, the country’s capital, were hard to verify because internet and telephone service into the region has been cut off. If the Taliban has gained control over the rugged region and manages to keep it under its rule, it would be both a final strategic victory in its lightning-quick conquest of the country and a deeply resonant moment.
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