Free Republic

Al-Qaeda joined the Taliban in the group’s offensive on the Panjshir valley on Thursday, Ahmad Massoud’s forces say, according to Al Arabiya sources. Both sides have suffered casualties during fighting in recent days as the hardline group that has seized most of the country attempts to take the last pocket of resistance to its rule. Militiamen and remnants of the previous Afghan government gathered in the Panjshir valley after the fall of Kabul on August 15. The mountainous region is home to Ahmad Massoud, son of commander Ahmad Shah Massoud – a significant figure in resisting the 1979-89 soviet occupation....

ISLAMABAD - Heavy fighting has started between Taliban fighters and anti-Taliban resistance forces based in the Panjshir valley after talks between the two sides failed to resolve their differences. A resistance spokesman claims a Taliban offensive was repulsed with the Taliban suffering heavy losses. The resistance is led by Ahmad Masood, son of well-known anti-Taliban resistance leader from the 1990s, Ahmad Shah Masood. The elder Masood, who led the Northern Alliance against the Taliban, was killed by al-Qaida militants posing as journalists just before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. After the fall of Kabul last month,...

KABUL —Groups of armed Afghans attacked the Taliban on Friday, driving Afghanistan's new rulers out of three northern districts, the first assault against the Islamist militants since they swept into Kabul last week and seized control of the government. ...“We have ignited something that is historic in Afghanistan,” said Sediqullah Shuja, 28, a former Afghan soldier who took part in Friday’s uprising. “Taliban fighters had armored vehicles, but people threw stones at Taliban fighters and drove them out.” “As long as we are alive,” he said, “we do not accept the Taliban’s rule.”...