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Panjshir & Baghlan: People uprising retake district from Taliban, hospital ER patients rising, Massoud Junior preps for war
[KhaamaPress] Ever since the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
 toppled all but Panjsher province on August 15, the fighters were engaged in their first armed conflict which erupts between them and the people uprising.

Tens of members of people armed uprising attacked the pol-e-Hesar district of northern Baghlan province and was cleared of the Taliban.

Local residents while claim two other districts- Deh Salah and Qasaan- have also been taken back from the Taliban.
If true, hopefully the start of the next defeat of the Taliban, even as they dance in triumph.
Former acting minister of defense, Bismillah Muhammadi who is now living in Panhsher province wrote on his Twitter that the people uprising has recaptured pol-e-Hesar, Bano, and Deh Salah district of Baghlan province.

Local residents have also claimed to have killed 40 Taliban fighters and maimed 15 more the Taliban have not commented on the conflict yet.

Defiant first vice President Amrullah Saleh and son of Slain Ahamad Shah Masoud have pledged to be resisting the Taliban and will never surrender to them. They said that resistance two will be commenced from Panjsher province and have asked foreign members of ANDSF to join them in the cause.

It comes as the Taliban are grabbing control of entire Afghanistan including the Afghan capital but are yet to fill the political vacuum now after six days.

Emergency Hospital Says Number of Patients in Panjshir Rising
[ToloNews] In the last 24 hours the number of maimed people arriving at Emergency Surgical Centre for War Victims in Kabul has stabilized, but the institution reported an increasing number of war-maimed patients at its health facility in Panjshir province north of Kabul.

The hospital received 37 patients, of whom only five were admitted as they were at death's door, the statement said, adding that the hospital had been extremely busy for several days and therefore the admission criteria were restricted to those with serious trauma and life-threatening injuries.

"The situation in the city seems to have improved, although unfortunately there was unrest again at the airport this morning to suppress the mass of people trying to catch a plane to leave the country. The situation is chaotic and it is difficult to understand what is really happening there. Last night, however, we heard Kalashnikov fire in our district," said Alberto Zanin, Emergency’s Medical Coordinator in Kabul.

The reduced influx of patients made it possible to return the hospital back to its regular working capacity of 100 beds. If the situation does not deteriorate, Emergency plans to widen its admission criteria imminently, the statement said.

"As far as our hospital in Anabah in the Panjshir Valley is concerned, unfortunately we have to report that admissions for war surgery are increasing and we are identifying some areas to be converted for the treatment of maimed people. The Surgical Centre for War Victims in Lashkar-Gah, on the other hand, seems to be relatively stable again," Zanin said.

Referring to the ongoing situation more generally, he said that their local colleagues remain concerned about the uncertainty and instability, "but we are confident that the new authorities will allow us to continue working in the country, which needs us more than ever at this time."

Massoud Junior readies for war while negotiating with Taliban
[THENATIONALNEWS] The leader of Afghanistan’s only region not to have fallen to the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
 has said he would be willing to join a Taliban government, but only if the group proved itself to be inclusive and respect the rights of all Afghans.

Ahmad Massoud, 32, leads forces in the Panjshir valley and said that war was on the cards if the group attempted an attack on his region.

In his first interview since the fall of Kabul last week, he told The National he had seen little evidence the group had changed over the past two decades.

He poured scorn on the group’s promise not to seek Dire Revenge against Afghans who had worked for the government or foreign forces.

"The pardon that the Taliban mentioned is just a sham — it is not real," he said.

"They have been going behind the doors and the houses of the people who work in the government. They are going after each individual who has worked for the government in the past 20 years."

He added the group were "telling us good things, but their actions are something different".

On the phone from his stronghold in the valley, Mr Massoud described a scene of frenzy in Panjshir as much of the rest of the country fell to the Taliban in a matter of days last week. His home province is now the only holdout.

The Afghan leader added that hundreds of Afghan commandos, members of the special forces and pilots had fled to the safety of Panjshir, which has a population of 200,000 and 20 military bases.
Last I heard, Afghanistan had a population of 22 million. That was thirty years ago, and I think it was a CIA Factbook guesstimate.
"They brought hundreds of Humvees, armoured cars, and we managed to bring five helicopters. We were flying them back to Kabul to bring more soldiers here," he said on Thursday.
With uncharacteristic energy, I checked with Google. 38 million and change.
They aren’t the only ones. On Wednesday, Mr Massoud’s representative said refugees have already begun to arrive from other areas of the country and are being sheltered by Panjshiri families in their homes.

For the graduate of Sandhurst and Kings College London, resisting the Taliban is a family business.

His father, Ahmad Shah Massoud, led the Northern Alliance of tribes and militia groups as it battled the Taliban in the 1990s until his liquidation by the late Osama bin Laden
...... who was laid out deader than a mackerel, right next to the mackerel......
 two days before 9/11. Now, many are looking to his son as Afghanistan’s only hope against The Taliban.

Mr Massoud acknowledged that while he is in direct communication with the Taliban, he is not optimistic a war can be averted.

"Our position is very clear: if the Taliban allow the people of Afghanistan to be a part of the government and have an inclusive government, then that’s one thing," he said.
.
"If the intention is to single-handedly enforce your will on the people and to enforce your own ideas on the people, then we will not accept an unjust government."

He said Panjshir was preparing for war and was ready should the Taliban attack, but the region's leaders are also pushing for peace.

"We are not after war, we are after peace, but peace has some conditions — otherwise, things will evolve into another war," he said.

Amid rumours that the Taliban may soon launch an offensive to capture Panjshir, Mr Massoud fired a stark warning to the group.

"We are telling them that as soon as war breaks out in the Panjshir valley, then there is no going back. If something happens to our people, or our soldiers, there is no going back.


Posted by: trailing wife 2021-08-21
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=610395