Jason Criss Howk: This week I spoke with numerous anti-Taliban groups about their approaches to liberating Afghanistan from the Haqqani-Taliban terror regime. The echoes of Fall 2001 are easy to see, but will these efforts come to fruition? That most likely depends on two major factors. First, can the Afghans unite and build a nationwide
8am: Taliban fighters are arresting innocent residents in war-torn villages in Panjshir and use them as hostage to gain leverage over the National Resistance Front. Local residents in Panjshir province confirmed the incidents. “In a number of villages in the province, especially in the village of Piyavasht in Rokha district, the Taliban have deployed Badri
The American Prospect: Violence has definitely decreased, but has not disappeared. At least in two mountainous districts, Andarab and Khost wa Fereng, anti-Taliban militias primarily consisting of former army soldiers are still active, biding their time and hoping to increase pressure on the Taliban once the winter snows melt away. It is still not fully
Ariana: Acting Minister of Interior Sarajuddin Haqqani met with EU special envoy for Afghanistan on Wednesday in Kabul and urged the foreign community not to support any armed opposition group in the country. Haqqani also said that the door to dialogue is open to all political opponents and that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA)
8am: It has been for four days that the clashes have been escalated in different parts of Panjshir province between the Taliban and Resistance Front forces, sources have reported. Last night, the Resistance Front forces killed and injured nearly 100 Taliban fighters in an ambush while the Taliban were trying to enter Dara Abdullah khail
8am: The National Resistance Front has claimed that its forces have defeated the Taliban fighters in clashes in areas of Andarab, Baghlan province. According to Sibghatullah Ahmadi, the NRF spokesman, the Resistance Front forces in attack and defense in the areas of Pol-e Hesar, Khair Dara, and Dara Jar-e-Andarab, and in some other areas have
8am: Local sources have confirmed the clashes between the Resistance Front forces and the Taliban in the Dara and Abshar districts of Panjshir province. The residents have further claimed that the Taliban have taken away a number of local elders as hostage. Taliban have arrested them after the attacks on charges of supporting NRF and
8am: Following the collapse of ten villages of Versaj district to NRF forces’ control, the Taliban have deployed Badri forces in the area to bring back the situation under control. Sources told Hasht-e Subh that the rebels are very harshly torturing the residents in Versaj district to make them reveal the locations of the Resistance
8am: In a newsletter, the National Liberation Front has claimed that its forces have killed five Taliban rebels in a guerrilla attack in Paktia province. In another report today, the Liberation Front also claimed that its forces had targeted Mullah Hafizullah Badr, the Taliban’s intelligence chief in western Kabul, in the Bagh-e-Dawood of the Company
8am: Currently, the battle line between the NRF forces and the Taliban is in the villages of Band Barq and Khanqa in Versaj district, as reported. Click here to read more (external link).