Taliban aren’t allowing food, abducting kids and elderly, says Afghan’s acting president Amrullah Saleh

Taliban are not allowing food and fuel to reach Andarab Valley in the northern Baghlan province, Afghanistan’s acting president Amrullah Saleh said, following reports that the militia group is engaged in a deadly battle with the resistance force in the neighbouring Panjshir Valley.

In a tweet, Saleh said the Taliban are abducting children and the elderly and using them as human shields while conducting house raids.

“Talibs aren’t allowing food and fuel to get into Andarab Valley. The humanitarian situation is dire. Thousands of women and children have fled to the mountains. Since the last two days Talibs abduct children and elderly and use them as shields to move around or do house search,” Saleh tweeted late on Monday.

Saleh, along with Ahmed Massoud, is leading the National Resistance Front from the Panjshir Valley, known as an anti-Taliban bastion.

Massoud is the son of anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.

Also read | 'Hundreds' of Taliban fighters head towards Panjshir Valley

Meanwhile, a Taliban spokesperson claimed that they are in a position near the Panjshir Valley and retaken three districts in northern Afghanistan

The districts of Bano, Deh Saleh, Pul e-Hesar in the northern province of Baghlan were taken by the Islamist militia group last week in one of the first signs of armed resistance to the Taliban since their seizure of the capital Kabul on August 15.

By Monday, Taliban forces had cleared the districts and were established in Badakhshan, Takhar and Andarab near the Panjshir valley, according to the Twitter account of spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

Forces loyal to Ahmad Massoud, son of the late mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, have established themselves in his Panjshir stronghold, which resisted both the Soviets and the Taliban before 2001.

(With inputs from Agencies)