Live updates Taliban fighters head to resistance stronghold seeking to seize control

The Taliban has sent hundreds of fighters to Panjshir Valley, the last significant outpost in Afghanistan not controlled by the Islamist militant group. The valley, some 90 miles northeast of Kabul, has long been an anti-Taliban stronghold, and a resistance movement is once again forming there.

Resistance forces are “surrounded,” said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a Monday statement, adding that the militants wanted to “resolve the issue peacefully through negotiations.”

Among the anti-Taliban leaders reportedly in the valley are Amrullah Saleh, vice president of the now-fallen government, and Ahmad Massoud, son of an assassinated military commander who fought the Soviet Union and, later, the Taliban. Massoud told Reuters Sunday that he hoped for peaceful talks with the Taliban but that his supporters were ready to fight if the militants invaded.

It is not clear how many anti-Taliban fighters have massed in the valley, nor how significant any resistance might be. Forces there include Afghan soldiers who had escaped the Taliban, as well as local militia fighters.

Here’s what to know

A firefight involving unidentified attackers, Western troops, and Afghan guards occurred early Monday at a Kabul airport gate, the German military said. One Afghan guard was killed.

President Biden said Sunday that he is having “discussions” about extending the deadline for the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which had been scheduled for Aug. 31. The U.S. military is “executing a plan” to move stranded American citizens to the Kabul airport in greater numbers, he added.

The United States and its partners have evacuated nearly 28,000 people from Afghanistan since Aug. 14, including 11,000 over the weekend, the White House said.

Key updateTaliban says U.S. must depart by Aug. 31 or face a ‘reaction'Link copied

A Taliban spokesman warned that the United States would be crossing a “red line” if the Biden administration keeps troops in Afghanistan past its declared Aug. 31 deadline.

“If they extend it, that means they are extending occupation … It will create mistrust between us,” Suhail Shaheen told Sky News in an interview from Doha, Qatar, that was aired Monday. “If they are intent on continuing the occupation, it will provoke a reaction.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will ask President Biden this week to maintain troops beyond this month because of the challenge of airlifting thousands more foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghans looking for a way out by then. Many people have been waiting for days at Kabul airport, in chaotic, squalid conditions, in hope of boarding a plane.

The Taliban spokesman also insisted that many of the people seeking to flee the country were economic migrants and not really in fear for their lives. “They want to reside in Western countries and that is a kind of economic migration because Afghanistan is a poor country,” Shaheen said.

(There have been numerous reports of the Taliban perpetrating revenge violence against people with links to the U.S.-backed government that has fallen.)

Biden has said the U.S. may push back its Aug. 31 deadline to facilitate more evacuations, adding that “our hope is we will not have to extend.” The United States and its allies have evacuated roughly 28,000 people since the militants swept through the country this month on the heels of the U.S. military withdrawal.

Harris calls for ‘robust analysis’ of U.S. exit from AfghanistanLink copied

Vice President Harris said there “will be, and should be, robust analysis” of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, but maintained that the Biden administration’s focus is on evacuating Afghan nationals, particularly those who are vulnerable and those who worked with Americans.

“That has to be our primary focus and on where we are placing our attention on the issue of Afghanistan,” she said in Singapore Monday. “The focus has to be on the task at hand.”

Harris’s trip to Singapore and Vietnam this week was meant to be a show of U.S. commitment to the Indo-Pacific region broadly, and to the countries of Southeast Asia, strategically located in China’s backyard. But she was plagued by questions and concerns about Washington’s ability to lead â€" as well as counter Beijing’s influence â€" in the wake of the debacle in Afghanistan.

The Vice President on Monday held a bilateral meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and in a joint news conference announced several enhanced or new partnerships. These involved the economy, cybersecurity, supply chains and climate change. Lee also said that Singapore would be committing an A330 tanker transport aircraft to help with evacuations from Afghanistan.

Lee, speaking at the news conference, pushed back on the idea that America’s role as a global power is diminished by the developments in Afghanistan.

Countries “have to adjust their position from time to time,” Lee said. “Sometimes it can be done smoothly, sometimes there are hiccups, sometimes things go awry and take time to put right.”

But, he added, the United States continues to have “long-term interests and long-term partners” including his own country, proving that it takes its commitments to allies seriously.

“Singapore hopes and works on the basis that the U.S. will continue to play that role and engage with the region for many more years to come,” he said.

Key updateTaliban set up showdown in resistance holdoutLink copied

The Taliban has sent hundreds of fighters to Panjshir Valley, the last significant outpost in Afghanistan not controlled by the Islamist militant group. The valley, some 90 miles northeast of Kabul, has long been an anti-Taliban stronghold, and a resistance movement is once again forming there.

Resistance forces are “surrounded,” said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a Monday statement, adding that the militants wanted to "resolve the issue peacefully through negotiations.”

A Taliban fighter, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he isn’t authorized to talk to the media, told The Washington Post that the Islamist organization’s leaders had decided to send forces to the valley because talks with the resistance group “couldn’t yield any results.”

Among the anti-Taliban leaders reportedly in the valley are Ahmad Massoud, son of an assassinated military commander who fought the Soviet Union and, later, the Taliban, and Amrullah Saleh, vice president of the now-fallen government.

Massoud told Reuters that he hoped to hold peaceful talks with the Taliban, but his supporters were ready to fight if the militants invaded. In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Massoud wrote: “No matter what happens, my mujahideen fighters and I will defend Panjshir as the last bastion of Afghan freedom. Our morale is intact. We know from experience what awaits us.”

It is not clear how many anti-Taliban fighters have massed in the valley, nor how significant any resistance might be. Analysts are unsure how long Massoud’s forces will be able to resist without external support. Forces there include Afghan soldiers who had escaped the Taliban, as well as local militia fighters.

The mountainous valley and its namesake province has long been a bastion of Afghan guerrilla warfare. When Soviet tanks rolled into the country in 1979, the people of the ethnic Tajik-dominated province resisted and the area was never conquered by the Russians. The Taliban did not gain control of the area during its previous rule.

This time around, the Taliban has captured scores of military equipment and supplies from Afghan security forces â€" although military experts have expressed doubt about whether they’ll be able to use and maintain the most sophisticated equipment, including planes and Blackhawk helicopters.

How to help Afghan refugees and those trapped during the Taliban takeoverLink copied

As militants crowded Kabul streets, thousands of Afghans and people who support them have tried to board flights to escape Taliban rule â€" but not all have been successful.

The result has been a crisis marked by displacement within the country and abroad. According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nearly 400,000 people have been forced from their homes since the beginning of the year. They joined 2.9 million Afghans who already have been displaced across the country since the end of 2020.

“We are seeing large-scale displacement in what is now a humanitarian emergency,” Christopher Boian, a senior communications officer for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told The Washington Post this week.

Britain’s Johnson to press Biden to extend U.S. troop stay, consider new Taliban sanctions Link copied

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will ask President Biden to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan beyond the White House’s Aug. 31 deadline because of the significant challenge of evacuating large numbers of foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghans seeking to flee the Taliban by that date.

Johnson will lobby Biden on Tuesday at a virtual gathering of Group of Seven leaders, the Guardian newspaper said. The U.S.-led airlift has evacuated fewer people than had been expected, and thousands of Western nationals and many more allied Afghans remain in the Taliban-controlled country.

“I will tell them that we’ll see what we can do,” Biden said of the anticipated G-7 request, adding that “our hope is we will not have to extend.”

The United States and its partners have evacuated nearly 28,000 people from Afghanistan since Aug. 14, including 11,000 this weekend, Biden said Sunday.

Johnson will also request that G-7 leaders consider applying new sanctions against the Taliban if the Islamist militant group commits human rights abuses or harbors terrorists in Afghanistan, Reuters reported, citing two unidentified sources. The White House has indicated that it would support such a move.

The Taliban governed Afghanistan brutally between 1996 and 2001, and its past, coupled with reports of recent abuses, has stirred concerns that the new regime will be equally harsh. Allegations of suspected war crimes have reinforced those fears. Taliban leaders also harbored Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda members involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks during their last rule.

Numerous senior Taliban officials, including its de facto leader Abdul Ghani Baradar, remain under United Nations and Western sanctions. A travel ban exemption issued to the organization’s leaders to facilitate peace talks is slated for renewal in September.

Perspective: Nativism in U.S. politics has thwarted refugee resettlement before By E. Kyle Romero12:30 a.m.Link copied

On Aug. 15, Taliban forces captured the Afghan capital of Kabul, the culmination of its campaign to seize control of the country in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal. The stunning speed with which the Taliban moved into the city has led to massive displacement, with hundreds of thousands of people seeking safe haven. In preparation, the United States has opened a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) process that is moving slowly to admit Afghans who worked with the U.S. military. Simultaneously, the Biden administration is in negotiations with other nations to admit the Afghans who do not qualify for the small number of SIVs currently being processed.

The dispersion of refugees across the world has long been a part of U.S. foreign policy. Far from being a clear leader in refugee resettlement, the United States has more often engaged with global refugee movements as border control and management projects rather than as humanitarian crises.

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