The Taliban has claimed victory over opposition forces in the last holdout province of Panjshir, completing their takeover of Afghanistan three weeks after capturing Kabul.
“With this victory, our country is completely taken out of the quagmire of war,” chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Monday.
The anti-Taliban National Resistance Front (NRF), pledged to carry on fighting in Panjshir Valley, saying it is present in “strategic positions” and that “the struggle against the Taliban… will continue”.
The whereabouts of resistance leader Ahmed Massoud and Amrullah Saleh, the former vice president who had joined the resistance after the fall of Kabul, were not immediately known.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has flown to Qatar to discuss the chaotic aftermath of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Taliban would welcome German investment in Afghanistan and help in areas including humanitarian aid, health care, education and infrastructure, the group’s spokesman told Bild newspaper.
Germany, acting in concert with the European Union, has laid out conditions to resume a diplomatic presence in Kabul and unfreeze development aid, urging the Taliban to respect human rights, particularly those of women.
“The German government could encourage its entrepreneurs to come and invest in our country,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an interview with Bild published.
The Taliban would pave the way for investments and ensure companies’ security, he said.
“The government will probably be a caretaker government for now, with room for reform, change and other fundamental steps,” Zabihullah Mujahid told a press conference in the capital Kabul.
“In the next few days we will witness the announcement of the government,” he said, adding that elections were “not in sight for now”.
“The next government will decide how the next procedure will proceed,” said Mujahid.
“There is no excuse for the war to continue,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a press conference in the capital Kabul.
“The country needs to move more towards stability. No one is allowed to create chaos in any corner of the country,” he added.
“We wanted to resolve the Panjshir issue through talks, we tried very hard. But some who had fled Kabul, carrying weapons and vehicles from the treasury, wanted to disturb the nation. They responded negatively to our delegations. Panjshir is in the hands of security forces,” said Mujahid.
The Taliban called on former members of the Afghan forces to integrate with the new rulers.
“The Afghan forces who were trained in the past 20 years will be asked to rejoin the security departments alongside Taliban members,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a press conference in the capital Kabul.
The spokesman added that any insurgency against their rule would be “hit hard”, after earlier saying they had captured the Panjshir Valley.
“The Islamic Emirate is very sensitive about insurgencies. Anyone who tries to start an insurgency will be hit hard. We will not allow another,” Mujahid said.
A British junior defence minister says he was wrong when he said some former British soldiers took their own lives in anger over the US-led withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“We’re looking very, very carefully at whether or not it is true that someone has taken their life in the last few days,” James Heappey, a junior defence minister, told BBC TV.
Heappey earlier told Sky News that some British Afghan war veterans had taken their own lives in devastation over the chaotic withdrawal of US-led forces and the Taliban victory. A spokesman for Britain’s defence ministry denied that veterans had taken their own lives due to the withdrawal.
The Taliban spokesman says it has taken complete control of Panjshir province, the last area held by resistance forces, as the group cements its control of the country three weeks after taking Kabul.
Meanwhile, the NRF spokesman said the Taliban’s claim of victory was false and opposition forces continued to fight.
Prior to the Taliban’s announcement, the NRF had acknowledged suffering considerable battlefield losses and called for a ceasefire.
