Kabul - Sana
Today, Taliban militants launched a massive attack on the province of Panjshir, north of the Afghan capital, Kabul, in an attempt to control it and end the resistance front against the movement led by Ahmed Masoud and former Vice President Amrullah Saleh.
Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi claimed in an interview with Sputnik agency that the movement's militants now control nearly 20 percent of the area of Panjshir province, expecting it to fall into their hands "in the next few days."
Karimi pointed out that Taliban militants took control of the districts of Brian and Khawak, northwest of Panjshir, this morning, while continuing to advance from the south.
For his part, the spokesman for the Afghan Resistance Front, Fahim Dashti, announced that the Taliban movement is responsible for the failure of the negotiations, indicating that it is attacking the forces of the front from two different directions, but to no avail.
A source in the front denied the fall of the Brian district in the hands of Taliban militants, recognizing at the same time the presence of progress in the district of Khawak.
The source also denied the authenticity of the reports that Masoud and Saleh had left for Tajikistan, stressing that they were still in the state of Panjshir.
In turn, Saleh condemned on his Twitter account the Taliban's denial of humanitarian aid and medicine to Panjshir and their cutting off electricity and communications.
Saleh stressed that Taliban elements are committing war crimes and do not respect international humanitarian law at all, calling on the United Nations and the world to pay attention to this criminal and terrorist behavior of the aforementioned movement.
The Afghan Resistance Front announced earlier the failure of negotiations with the Taliban, stressing that it will resort to fighting and will defend the state of Panjshir, which has become a haven for thousands of people fleeing the brutality of the movement.
For its part, the Iranian Foreign Ministry called on all parties in Afghanistan to show restraint, adhere to dialogue, and refrain from violence.
Commenting on the clashes in Panjshir province, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said, "Permanent peace and stability in Afghanistan can only be achieved through a true inter-Afghan dialogue without the presence and interference of foreign countries and reaching a mutually satisfactory solution."
In a related context, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed, during a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, that China and Iran need to play a constructive role in achieving a smooth transition and reconstruction in Afghanistan.
Wang blamed the United States for what happened in Afghanistan and called on it to acknowledge this and help rebuild the country it destroyed.
While Abdullahian stressed that the approach of US unilateralism constitutes a threat to global peace and stability, his country once again rejected the interference of some major powers in the internal affairs of other countries.
In the capital, Kabul, hundreds of women and civil society activists demonstrated to demand the preservation of women's rights and their role in political work and any future government.
The demonstrators demanded the Taliban movement to respect their political, economic and social rights and to preserve the achievements of women that have been achieved over the past two decades.
The demonstration comes after the Taliban recently announced that it would not allow women to work in senior positions.