Afghan Resistance Leaders Have Fled Country: Taliban Media Rep To NDTV

The Taliban say Ahmad Massoud, leader of the Panjshir resistance, is actually in Turkey.

The leadership of the Afghan resistance movement is not in Panjshir but in Turkey, a media representative of the Taliban terrorists has said. The assertion came hours after claims and counter-claims over control of the Afghanistan district which has been a stronghold of those opposed to the new regime that took power in the country recently.

"Panjshir does not have internet. How is he (Ahmad Massoud) posting online from there? Ahmad Massoud is in Turkey," said Tariq Ghazniwal, a journalist with the Taliban's official news channel, Alemarah.

"Panjshir is a district. It was surrounded by us. We have drones, but we did not use them there. We used them in Mazhar. Media was not taking interest in Afghanistan, so it has limited information," Ghazniwal, also known as Abdul Wahid Rayyan, told NDTV today.

The Panjshir valley lies in the Hindu Kush mountains, approximately 90 miles north of Kabul. Since the fall of the capital on August 15, it has remained the pocket of resistance where forces led by former Vice-President Amarullah Saleh and Ahmad Massoud, son of former Afghan guerrilla commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.

The Taliban today claimed they had won the key battle for the Valley.

"We tried to talk and take them along, like in the rest of Afghanistan. But some people in Panjshir were not ready. They were influenced from outside. We waited for 15 days. Our mujahideen waited outside the gates but they did not agree. So we were compelled to attack," said Ghazniwal.

The National Resistance Front, however, has said it was present in "strategic positions" across the valley and that "the struggle against the Taliban and their partners will continue", according to an AFP report.

Speaking to NDTV, Ghazniwal downplayed the presence of Faiz Hameed, chief of Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Service Intelligence, in Kabul. "In some days, representative from the US may also come," he said.

Mr Hameed's presence in the war-torn country's capital soon after the Taliban's takeover had sparked speculation over who was in control there.

"We are trying to form a government that is acceptable to the world and also to Afghans. So we are talking. Haibatullah Akhundzada will be the Emir," said Ghazniwal.

Referring to the alleged attacks on women, he said the media was "making these things up". He said it was important to know why "people" were being beaten up.

"To build pressure on the Taliban, 20 women are gathered, paid money, and asked to protest. In several areas, women are moving freely and can be seen in the markets," he said.

A few days ago, dozens of Afghan women protested in Herat, demanding rights and female representation in future governments. They were seen carrying banners with slogans against the exclusion of women from the country's political system under the Taliban, according to Tolo News.

A pregnant Afghan policewoman was shot dead by the Taliban in front of her husband and children in Ghor province, an Afghan journalist informed in a tweet today.