The Islamic extremist group claims full control of Afghanistan with the purported defeat of resistance fighters, but it won’t say why 6 planes aren’t being allowed to depart.
Doha, Qatar — The Taliban claimed on Monday to have taken full control of. The group said its forces had seized the Panjshir Valley, and with it the last province in the country where resistance forces held ground and put up a fight against the Islamic extremists’ takeover. There were competing claims about the situation in Panjshir, north of the capital Kabul, with some members of the resistance refusing to give up, but images from the rugged mountain region suggested the fight was over, and the Taliban had won. Despite the competing claims, it was clear that the Taliban was cementing its control over the country, and its latest apparent victory came amid growing concern over the fate of Americans and Afghans who have been unable to leave. The relatively small force of the National Resistance Front, led by commander Ahmad Massoud, had held out against the Taliban for weeks in the rugged mountains of the Panjshir Valley. It wasn’t clear whether Massoud was still in the province, or even in Afghanistan, but in an audio message recorded on Monday, he called on all Afghans inside and outside their country “to begin a national uprising for the dignity, freedom and prosperity of our country.
