Tajikistan The Panjshir resistance's safe haven

Tajikistan The Panjshir resistance's safe haven With the capture of the Panjshir Valley, Tajikistan is once again one of the main supports for Afghan resistance leaders "The Panjshir resistance has failed," concluded the leader of the Afghan National Congress Party last September when the Taliban seized control of the area. With the capture of the Panjshir Valley, the last bastion of resistance against the Taliban, the insurgents raised their banner in the last Afghan provincial capital not under the control of the radicals. With the capture of the Panjshir Valley, the Taliban inaugurated an unprecedented new phase in a pocket of resistance that had never before fallen under Afghan control. Tajikistan is currently serving as a safe haven for National Resistance Front leaders including leader Ahmad Massoud, former vice-president and self-proclaimed acting president of Afghanistan, Amrullah Saleh along with the leader of the Afghan National Congress Party, Abdul Latif Pedram. According to a report by the Financial Times, these leaders are reportedly in the capital Dushanbe, where the Tajik government is reportedly providing them with refuge. In this regard, while other neighbouring countries such as Russia, China and Uzbekistan have been moving closer to the Taliban regime with a view to establishing diplomatic relations, Tajikistan has remained fiercely opposed to the new Taliban government. As a symbolic gesture, Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon last month bestowed the distinctive "lion of panjshir" proclamation on the father of leader Massoud, Ahmad Shah Massoud, revered for resisting Taliban offensives in 2001 and killed by insurgents on 9 September 2001.