Afghan Civil War Likely To Erupt; 34 Taliban Fighters Dead In Clashes

A civil war between the Afghan resistance in the Panjshir Valley and the Taliban appears likely as ongoing attempts to find a peaceful resolution are failing, according to the brother of the late Northern Alliance commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.

Photo Insert: An National Resistance Front (NRF) anti-Taliban rally led by Ahmad Massoud.

Ahmad Wali Massoud, formerly the Afghan ambassador to the UK, told Eve Hartley of Yahoo News that so far dialogue between the groups has not resolved the conflict in the Panjshir province, the last part of the country not under Taliban control.

Fahim Dashti, a spokesperson for the anti-Taliban group National Resistance Forces said violence in the area Monday had resulted in eight Taliban members killed as well as two of its own fighters.

Civil war is “very likely,” Massoud said, “The Taliban will not accept [the deal], they will start the warfighting, we have to resist, we have to defend ourselves,” he said, “The next step would be an all-out war in Afghanistan,” he added.

The National Resistance Front (NRF), comprising anti-Taliban militia fighters and former Afghan security forces, has vowed to defend Panjshir Valley, 100 kilometers northeast of the capital, as the Islamist group sends more fighters to encircle it.

The National Resistance Front (NRF), comprising anti-Taliban militia fighters and former Afghan security forces, has vowed to defend Panjshir Valley, 100 kilometers northeast of the capital, as the Islamist group sends more fighters to encircle it.

“Afghanistan is made up of almost 30 ethnicities, four of them are major: Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek. So we need a mechanism, a system in which we can live with each other, as well as with an international community,” Massoud said.

Former Defense Minister Bismillah Mohammadi said a renewed assault launched by the Taliban overnight was "defeated," while claiming that 34 Taliban fighters were killed and 65 wounded in a second day of fighting after foreign troops left the country to meet an August 31 deadline for their withdrawal.

The National Resistance Front (NRF), comprising anti-Taliban militia fighters and former Afghan security forces, has vowed to defend Panjshir Valley, 100 kilometers northeast of the capital, as the Islamist group sends more fighters to encircle it.

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