NY Times
9 minutes ago

Resistance fighters drive Taliban from 3 districts in the mountains north of Kabul.
The Taliban faced the first armed challenge to their rule as former Afghan soldiers, aided by villagers, drove the militants out of three districts in the mountains north of Kabul, according to former Afghan officials.
The fighting took place in remote valleys on Friday, and details of the clashes were still trickling out.

The fighting was reportedly set off by the Taliban conducting house-to-house searches, an ironic twist in a war during which Afghan anger at American searches helped swell the ranks of the militants.
Former Afghan officials said the clashes appeared to have been led by a local police chief who knew he was not long for his post under Taliban rule.

In a tweet, the former acting defense minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, called the fighters “popular resistance forces,”
“The resistance” he wrote, “is still alive.”
How long it could survive is another question.

more
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/21/worl ... istan.html

Things are heating up.

PANJSHIR
Latest - Afghanistan Taliban Resistance : Both Sides claim advances in Panjshir Valley

Not having a dig at the US here, but how the fuck can the only Afghans offering resistance be the ones the US hasn't spent 20 years training and arming ?

How is that even fucking possible ?

Maybe people fight for their nation, or their ideals, better than they fight for "Coca Cola In - Oil Out". ??

UK’s withdrawal from Afghanistan ‘very stupid’, says John Major
Sam Hancock - 1h ago

ormer prime minister Sir John Major has branded the government’s failure to evacuate all Afghans who worked for Britain “shameful”, and said withdrawing troops from the country was “strategically very stupid”.

The former Tory leader made the remarks on Saturday at the FTWeekend Festival, where he said the decision to leave Afghanistan was “wrong morally but … also wrong practically”.
It comes after Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, returned to the UK from an emergency diplomatic tour to Qatar and Pakistan where he attempted to secure the safe passage of those left behind in Kabul.

Sir John launched an attack on the current Cabinet, telling those at the London event that it was “shameful we weren’t able to take out those who had worked for us in one capacity or another, or who had worked carrying out the changes to Afghanistan that the Taliban won’t approve of”.
In addition, he said, the move to pull out allied troops “abruptly and in my view unnecessarily” will be a “stain on the reputation of the West” for at least a lifetime.

Mr Raab told an emergency session of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday that he did not know exactly how many British people and Afghans eligible for the Arap (Afghan relocations and assistance policy) scheme had been left in Afghanistan after Britain’s airlift mission ended.

It is feared thousands of Afghans who helped British forces in the south-central nation, their relatives and other vulnerable civilians are stranded as a result of the US deciding to pull out its troops.
Sir John also rebuked US president Joe Biden for insisting his troops had to leave the nation so swiftly by the 31 August deadline he sent after two decades in Afghanistan.

“The fact that it was left in that fashion will leave a stain on the reputation of the West that will last for a very long time and certainly through the whole of the lifetime of those people in Afghanistan whom we have returned to Taliban rule,” the former PM said.
More than 8,000 former Afghan staff and their family members were among the 15,000-plus people evacuated by the UK since 13 August. However, up to 1,100 Afghans deemed eligible were estimated to have been left behind, though that figure will fall short of the true number the UK would wish to help.

Foreign secretary Mr Raab held talks in Pakistan in order to discuss British nationals and Afghan citizens crossing the land border in order to find safety. He also visited Qatar for talks about reopening Kabul airport in order to resume evacuations.
In a tweet on Friday night, Mr Raab wrote: “I have held meetings with key partners in Qatar and Pakistan to support the people of Afghanistan, prevent it from becoming a safe haven for terrorists and respond to the humanitarian situation and safeguard regional stability.”
With the House of Commons returning from its summer recess on Monday, he and Boris Johnson are expected to come under renewed pressure to explain their response to the crisis and how they will help more people leave the country.
Mr Raab has been criticised for holidaying in Crete at the same time the Taliban swept to power in Afghanistan last month. The PM was also called out for being on vacation in Somerset, in the southwest of England – where he returned when the crisis died down – though a No 10 spokesperson later said it was not a vacation and Mr Johnson was in fact “continuing to work”.
When cross-party MPs attempted to quiz the foreign secretary about his trip during the recent Foreign Affairs Committee meeting, Mr Raab repeatedly refused to provide details about when he flew to Greece.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/u ... np1taskbar

The Taliban claimed on Friday that the Panjshir Valley resistance had been defeated.
Subsequent footage has since proved that false - however, serious pressure is currently being applied.
We should get a indication quite soon of whether this particular resistance has legs. or not.



During this enormous volley of gunfire in Kabul on Friday night - in celebration of the"success" in Panjshir - a number of deaths and many injuries caused havoc at the hospitals. One report said 17 deaths (but this may be a bit wild)

The Taliban issued a city-wide directive after 1 hour when they were alerted to this. The firing continued for half the night.
One British "informed commentator" reporting live from his very civilised looking back garden in downtown Kabul, suggested that the Taliban may not have such a homogenised, united, fully compliant, "army" as we might think.

Well, that was quick.

at least for now...

^^^
Taliban claim control of Panjshir, Opposition says resistance will continue

Sept 6 (Reuters)
The Taliban claimed victory on Monday in the last part of Afghanistan still holding out against their rule, declaring that the capture of the Panjshir valley completed their takeover of the country and they would unveil a new government soon.

Pictures on social media showed Taliban members standing in front of the gate of the Panjshir provincial governor's compound after days of fighting with the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), commanded by Panjshiri leader Ahmad Massoud.

Massoud did not concede defeat, saying his force, drawn from the remnants of the regular Afghan army as well as local militia fighters, was still fighting.
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/tal ... 021-09-06/

A very knowledgable Au defence analyst tonite
Main Points..

* The Taliban have been the most united force in Afghanistan for the past few decades.
* But they are still a coalition, not homogenous, with differing interests.
* The Taliban includes different groupings under the effective direction of certain "powerbrokers" (probably incl the old War Lords)
* They have been keeping everybody sweet, including the neighbouring countries, SO FAR.
* But now the hard part of that starts.

* If/when any rifts or splitting occurs - a number of neighbouring countries, Or, ISIS, Al Quada etc, Or, certain western powers, will be only too happy to give them support.
* So don't expect the picnic run to last forever, Al Taliban.

This is where any true Afghani nationalist resistance will probably come from too. IMO.
ie, Splits.

just started reading, "Descent into Chaos" by Ahmed Rashid
written after 9/11 and after a few years and billions spent trying to defeat the Taliban and make Afghanistan livable>
How far will the Taliban get with NO $$

I fear the country is lost