Although the Taliban have taken over power in Afghanistan, there is a tribe it has yet to conquer.
This is the Panjshir region/Valley, founded by Ahmad Massoud, son of Afghan resistance hero, Ahmad Shah Massoud.
As the BBC reports, the region is famous for having successfully fought off invasions, including from Soviet forces during the Soviet-Afghan war from 1979 to 1989, and the Taliban in the 1990s.
Their spokesperson and head of foreign relations for the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, Ali Nazari, put their story thus:
“The NRF believes that for lasting peace we have to address the underlying problems in Afghanistan,” he continued. “Afghanistan is a country made up of ethnic minorities, no one is a majority. It’s a multicultural state, so it needs power sharing – a power-sharing deal where everyone sees themselves in power.
“We prefer peace, we prioritise peace and negotiations,” Mr Nazary added. “If this fails – if we see that the other side is not sincere, if we see that the other side is trying to force itself on the rest of the country – then we’re not going to accept any sort of aggression.
“And we’ve proven ourselves, our track record in the past [40 years] has shown that no-one is able to conquer our region, especially the Panjshir Valley.
“The Red Army, with its might, was unable to defeat us… I don’t think any force right now in Afghanistan has the might of the Red Army. And the Taliban also 25 years ago… they tried to take over the valley and they failed, they faced a crushing defeat.”
