Taliban militants are closing in on the anti-Taliban region of Panjshir, north of Kabul, as the group plans to form a government and seek global recognition.
The Taliban are due to form a government despite fighting in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley where forces battling the hardline Islamists say they are enduring "heavy" assaults.Insurgents pushed ahead with an offensive against the anti-Taliban stronghold of Panjshir north of KabulA group of women in Kabul protested for equal rights under the Taliban
The Taliban face the enormous challenge of shifting gears from insurgent group to governing power, days after the United States fully withdrew its troops and ended two decades of war.— which held out for a decade against the Soviet Union's occupation and also the Taliban's first rule from 1996-2001. Fighters from the National Resistance Front — made up of anti-Taliban militia and former Afghan security forces — are understood to have significant weapon stockpiles in the valley, which lies around 80 kilometres north of Kabul.
Earlier on Friday, pro-Taliban Twitter accounts aired video clips purporting to show the new regime's fighters had captured tanks and other heavy military equipment inside the valley.Taliban and resistance tweets suggested the key district of Paryan had been taken and lost again, but that could not be independently verified.
While the West has adopted a wait-and-see approach to the group, there were some signs of engagement with the new leaders gathering pace.indicating that Beijing will keep its embassy in Kabul open"We hope the Taliban will establish an open and inclusive political structure, pursue moderate and stable domestic and foreign policy and make a clean break with all terrorist groups," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.
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