The Panjshir conflict was an armed conflict in Afghanistan which broke out in 2021, fought between the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the Panjshir Resistance, a resistance movement composed of local militias and the remnants of the Afghan National Army still loyal to the defunct Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Led by the Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud's son Ahmad Massoud, the resistance movement took inspiration from the Northern Alliance mujahideen of the 1990s, and they accepted former Vice President Amrullah Saleh's claim to the presidency of the Islamic Republic.
History[]
Location of the Panjshir holdouts
The Fall of Kabul on 15 August 2021 marked the demise of the pro-United States Islamic Republic of Afghanistan at the hands of the victorious Taliban movement, and, a day later, the Taliban proclaimed the restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Taliban had seized power after a lightning offensive which caused the collapse of the Afghan National Army due to mass desertions, the loss of American air support, Taliban propaganda, and the cowardice and double-dealings of the Afghan leadership, including President Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country as his former Prime Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former President Hamid Karzai remained. In the days leading up to and following the fall of Kabul, hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees attempted to flee the country, many of them crowding into the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul with the desperate hope of escaping the country alongside evacuating American military and diplomatic personnel.
As the Taliban consolidated their grip on power, the warlord Ahmad Massoud formed the Panjshir Resistance in the Panjshir Valley to fight back against the Islamist takeover. On 17 August 2021, he wrote an editorial for The Washington Post in which he asked for international support for his efforts to fight back against the Taliban, and he also wrote, "I write from the Panjshir Valley today, ready to follow in my father's footsteps, with mujahideen fighters who are prepared to once again take on the Taliban. We have stores of ammunition and arms that we have patiently collected since my father's time, because we knew this day might come. We also have the weapons carried by the Afghans who, over the past 72 hours, have responded to my appeal to join the resistance in Panjshir. We have soldiers from the Afghan regular army who were disgusted by the surrender of their commanders and are now making their way to the hills of Panjshir with their equipment. Former members of the Afghan Special Forces have also joined our struggle. But that is not enough. If Taliban warlords launch an assault, they will of course face staunch resistance from us. The flag of the National Resistance Front will fly over every position that they attempt to take, as the National United Front flag flew 20 years ago. Yet we know that our military forces and logistics will not be sufficient. They will be rapidly depleted unless our friends in the West can find a way to supply us without delay." At the same time, former Vice President Amrullah Saleh declared himself the interim President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and vowed to continue military operations against the Taliban from the Panjshir Valley, and he was endorsed by Massoud and Defense Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi. The Resistance won an early victory by recapturing Charikar, near Bagram Airbase, and, on 18 August, an anti-Taliban crowd in Jalalabad replaced the Taliban flag with the Afghan tricolor, leading to three of the protesters being shot; other anti-Taliban protests broke out in Khost and Asadabad.
On 20 August 2021, the anti-Taliban unrest spread to the Baghlan Province districts of Andarab, Puli Hisar, and Dih Salah, where the locals revolted against the Taliban's oppressive door-to-door searches. In late August, the Taliban and the National Resistance Front engaged in peace talks aimed at resolving the conflict peacefully, but peace talks fell through due to the Taliban's refusal to accept a transitional government incorporating the Resistance's leadership. On 31 August, the Taliban renewed their offensive against Panjshir, aided by Arabic-speaking al-Qaeda fighters and the military of Pakistan, which sent the Pakistan Air Force to launch drone strikes on the Resistance, and enabled large numbers of Pakistan-based militants to cross into Afghanistan to aid in the offensive. The Resistance's requests for aid from the international community were largely ignored, although Tajikistan airdropped military supplies for the rebels. Hazara revolts in Wardak Province and Daikundi Province were suppressed by the Taliban, and, on 3 September, the Taliban claimed to have recaptured the valley. On 5 September, however, the Resistance claimed to have encircled and captured 1,500 Taliban fighters in the valley, and the Resistance continued to deny reports that it was defeated, or that its leaders had been forced into exile. On 6 September, after heavy fighting and significant losses, the Taliban captured all of Panjshir Valley, raising their flag at the provincial capital of Bazarak.