Clashes erupt in northern Afghanistan as Taliban pursue talks with former enemies

They include the Minister of Defense of the fallen Afghan Republic, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi; Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who claims to be the legitimate leader of Afghanistan after President Ashraf Ghani left office and fled the country on August 15; and Ahmad Massoud, a son of the famous Panjshiri commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.

The video posted on social media showed the casualties and fighting between Taliban forces and anti-Taliban militias in the Andarab Valley, in the northern Baghlan province, next to Panjshir, and large convoys of Taliban reinforcements in the Ford Rangers and Humvees purchased in the United States with the white flag of the Islamist movement. .

Although Baghlan’s militias ally with Panjshir forces, they acted independently by attacking the Taliban, said Ali Nazary, head of foreign affairs of the new Panjshir-based National Resistance Front, which includes about 1,000 commanders. of the Afghan army who refused to surrender when the rest of the military melted down and some helicopters.

Instead of igniting a new civil war, the Panjshiri establishment, which played a powerful role in post-2001 Afghanistan, is primarily pressuring the Taliban to participate in a new government, its leaders said. “It’s better to see what can be agreed in a political deal,” said Ahmad Wali Massoud, Ahmad Shah Massoud’s brother and former ambassador to London.

Without external support or access to a border with a friendly nation, anti-Taliban militias would find it difficult to hold out for long. The Taliban began gathering large formations on Sunday at the entrance to Panjshir, a narrow valley that not even the Soviet army was able to control in the 1980s.

“We will fight. Our resistance will continue, “promising Tajik warlord Atta Mohammad Noor, who fled Uzbekistan when the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif fell on August 14, promised in a video address. that it was in the Taliban’s interest not to repeat the mistakes of the past and create a “meaningful” inclusive government.

“We will not become slaves to outsiders,” he added. “We won’t go to other people’s tables to decorate them. We want to be a partner of power.”

Although the Taliban have never dismantled the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan they proclaimed in 1996, consultations continue with key Afghan politicians left in Kabul. A broader administration is much more likely to achieve international diplomatic recognition, which would allow Afghanistan to be recognized in the global financial system, resume foreign trade flights, or regain access to foreign aid. So far, no country has recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

The head of the Taliban’s political office, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, arrived in Kabul on Saturday after stopping for the first time in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Islamist movement. Taliban leaders have held talks with Afghan politicians who have remained in Kabul since Mr Ghani fled, including former President Hamid Karzai, former chief executive Abdullah Abdullah and former Islamist warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

As part of a public relations push, the Taliban have released videos of some of the top figures in the deposed Afghan republic pledging allegiance to the Islamist movement in the presence of fighters and clerics. On Sunday, Gul Agha Sherzai, a longtime ally, minister and governor of the United States, appeared in one of these videos, following a similar appearance by Mr. Ghani’s brother, Hashmat Ghani.

Another prominent politician from the fallen Afghan republic, former finance minister Omar Zakhilwal, returned this week from a trip abroad, posting photos of him drinking tea with Taliban fighters in southeastern Kabul, and then meeting with Messrs. Karzai and Abdullah in the capital.

“He agreed that we would work together and tirelessly to help create an environment in which all Afghans, regardless of their background, would be comfortable,” he tweeted. “I remain optimistic about the future of our country!”

Many other Afghans do not share this optimism. Tens of thousands are trying to leave for the US-run Kabul airport. Inside the facility, families who have been housed for days in detention areas without food or shelter waited for their flights on Sunday. There were sporadic gunshots at the gates during the night. The U.S. military was on the sidelines after receiving reports that the Islamic State may have infiltrated the perimeter.

A woman, a 27-year-old accountant named Muska, was fleeing with her husband and baby a year after spending several days next to the U.S.-run airport. He said he was in danger because his brother, now living in the United States, worked for the U.S. special forces.

Muska said they had run out of food and American soldiers on duty there had told him there was no formula available for the baby. The phone’s battery was 13%, there was no access to electricity and she was worried that her child would need medical attention after days without heat in the heat.

“I need to breastfeed, but since I didn’t eat anything, I don’t have milk to breastfeed my baby. I can see my baby has lost weight, it’s not okay, ”she said.

Seven people have been killed amid chaos at the airport, the British Defense Ministry said on Sunday, calling the ground conditions “extremely difficult”. The UK said it had evacuated 4,000 people from Kabul since August 13.

Faced with growing challenges at the airport and uncertainty about how long the airlift would remain open, UK Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace acknowledged on Sunday that the country would not be able to remove all eligible Afghan citizens to be evacuated.

Wallace wrote for the British newspaper The Mail on Sunday, Wallace said the 1,000 British troops currently in Kabul to aid in evacuation efforts would work with the US to help get people out “as long as the situation security, ”he added, adding that“ no nation will be able to take everyone out ”of Afghanistan.

European officials have complained that U.S. troops are blocking access to Kabul airport by some of its allies and Afghan personnel, even those with the necessary documentation.

“The problem is access to the airport,” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Saturday. “US security and control measures are very strict. We protested. We asked them to show more flexibility. We can’t get past our own partners. “

Some allies raised the situation at a video meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s foreign ministers on Friday, according to officials present. A diplomat called it “a failure,” officials said.

Others said the situation had improved in recent days and the main complaints were from smaller allies who have limited resources on the ground.

However, European allies are concerned that they will not be able to complete evacuations before the U.S. withdrawal deadline by the end of the month.

The largest, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, urged the US at the NATO meeting to maintain a military presence for as long as was necessary for the evacuations.

European officials said they had not received a clear signal from President Biden if he was willing to extend the U.S. term.

“If the Americans leave, the Europeans will not have the military capability to seize and secure the military airport and the Taliban will take control,” Borrell said.

The Pentagon said Sunday it activated a program that forces commercial airlines to use it in national emergencies, activating 18 civilian planes to help evacuate Afghans. Officials said the plane would not fly out to and from Kabul, but that shuttle ferries would enter and leave bases in Germany, Qatar and Bahrain.

—Sune Engel Rasmussen, Jessica Donati, James Marson and Laurence Norman contributed to this article.

Write to Yaroslav Trofimov to [email protected] and Saeed Shah to [email protected]