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2021-09-06 Afghanistan
Suicide Parade: Fighting Continues in Afghanistan in the Panjshir Gorge
Direct Translation through Google Translate. Edited.
By Aleksandr Kots

Lead rain
Who would have thought that the laws of physics apply, among other things, to all types of ammunition in service with the Taliban fighters *. And when you joyfully fire a burst into the sky, the lead bullets, after making a short journey, return to earth with great speed. And the main thing here is not to be on the trajectory of their fall. I saw what happens to people whose heads fall on a 7.62 caliber bullet from a Kalashnikov assault rifle. In Cairo, after the victory of another counter-revolution, the military, who overthrew the Islamists Mursi, celebrated this matter in an oriental way, on a grand scale. The result is a dozen killed.


Continued from Page 1


Therefore, when on Saturday night the sky of Kabul was again torn apart by hundreds of queues, I, having filmed a couple of videos on the roof, hurried to get out under the shed. This time the Taliban * celebrated the fall of the last uncontrolled province - the legendary Panjshir, which they failed to conquer in their "first coming" in the 90s. The cannonade was such that by morning it became alarming for the combat readiness of the military wing of the new government. However, the Americans left so much weapons here that it will be enough for more than one holiday.

Moreover, the joy turned out to be premature. By morning it became clear that the Panjshir had not yet fallen. But the deadly salute killed at least 17 people, about fifty were wounded (mostly onlookers who came out to watch the fireworks). And so many were not killed even during the capture of Kabul itself. He, in fact, was surrendered without a fight. The figures puzzled the new authorities so much that they, in the person of the official representative of Zabiullah Mujahid, called on their comrades-in-arms to abandon this archaic and very dangerous tradition.

Meanwhile, other figures come from the Panjshir Gorge . Hundreds of dead Taliban, thousands of surrendered. Messages from the Northern Alliance 2.0, which is opposing the Taliban these days, resemble the victorious reports of the Armenian Defense Ministry a couple of days before the surrender of Shushi - spiritually uplifting, but far from reality.

Panjshir puffin
I met the current leader of the anti-Taliban coalition almost 20 years ago, when he was 13 years old. A couple of months after the death of field commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, I arrived in Dushanbe to visit his son. Then there was a legend that during a visit to the capital of Tajikistan, Vladimir Putin met with Masud Jr. To the question: "Who would you like to become?" - the boy replied: "A diplomat." To the president's proposal to come to study in Moscow, he objected: "I need to consult with my mother, let her decide." And when Putin handed Akhmad an envelope with money, because the family did not live in Dushanbe, the boy proudly refused ...

Ahmad Massoud then gave his first face-to-face interview - judicious and firm beyond his years. He said that he wants to study in America, and denied the meeting with the President of Russia so that I would rather bet that she was. “If I grow up and there is still a war going on in Afghanistan, I will follow in my father's footsteps,” he said to me in parting.

Studying in England, returning to his native Panjshir in 2016, creating an anti-Taliban coalition together with former Vice President Saleh, who declared himself president of Afghanistan ... But today, the new version of the Northern Alliance, unlike the sample of the 90s, has no external support - neither the United States, nor Iran, nor Turkey, nor Russia. And the fall of Panjshir is only a matter of time.

By the way, this fall will not bring a great strategic military victory to the Taliban. Only its political component is important. Maybe that's why the Taliban agitprop is more restrained: they promise to take Panjshir and declare full control over the entire territory of Afghanistan in the next few days. In the meantime, the propaganda machine works for both internal and external viewers on all fronts. A colorful funeral is held in Khost, dragging around the city coffins covered with US and UK flags. Taliban special forces parade across Kandahar on American military equipment - expensive and rich. In Kabul, at the stadium, during a solemn procession, the weapons of the Islamic "proletariat" are demonstrated. Ordinary spectators were not invited, they were shown on TV. Platforms pass by the rostrum on which the "leaders of the revolution" and their distinguished guests are sitting, on which are placed mortars, machine guns, martyrs' belts, homemade canister bombs, cars stuffed with explosives ... Just a parade of some kind of suicide bombers. Not the best demonstration for those who crave global recognition.

There is no alternative
However, here is another picture - women doctors are meeting with the governor of Herat Maulyavi Abdul Qayyum Rouhani. They complained that there were no vacancies in their specialization (they were given to men). And the governor, in a fatherly way, announced that supporting medicine in the province is one of the priorities of his work, and assured the women of his support. Now, he says, we will form the Cabinet and things will go uphill.

Meanwhile, in Kabul, Taliban fighters with tear gas and rifle butts dispersed a small and short rally of women demanding to respect their rights. After all, not the entire billion allocated by the United States to promote the ideas of feminism was plundered here.

"And with these people we want to negotiate something?" - the reader will be surprised. The problem is that Moscow does not have a wide choice. Well, not with the Islamic State * to negotiate. Given the number of American weapons seized from the Afghan army, no one will compete with the Taliban in the short term, not even the coalition of Massoud Jr. And no one is going to support him, because Russia (as well as other interested countries) does not need decentralization of power in Afghanistan. And as a result - an internecine war, with all the "side effects" spilling out of this country in the form of refugees, terrorists and arms smuggling. You can, of course, put on a ceremonial tunic, sit on a white horse, stick out your little finger in a mannered manner and, disgustingly looking at what is happening, rush off into the bright distance.

Or you can put on masks and gloves and deal with the only force that today is really capable of keeping the entire territory of Afghanistan under control. And this power, whatever you think of it, is the Taliban. On which, through their desire to be recognized, it is quite possible to influence, albeit with elements of political "blackmail" - bash for bash, as they say. After August 31, there is no one else to negotiate in the country about something.

Aleksandr Kots is a Russian military journalist
Posted by badanov 2021-09-06 00:00|| || Front Page|| [2 views ]  Top
 File under: Taliban/IEA 










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