“What is the Taliban that we have to build fortifications against them and fight from within?”
Author: Fazlahmad Manawi, former Minister of Justice of Afghanistan, especially for Sangar
The fall of Panjshir, after a breathtaking month-long war against some 30,000 enemy forces armed to the teeth with every military and logistical means, as well as foreign terrorists who attacked to crush the nascent resistance, is full of resilience and many untold stories. Tales of bravery, and sacrifice of freedom-loving fighters and steadfast inhabitants of this valley. These memoirs were written on the eve of the two-year anniversary of this war to tell more about its nature and to express gratitude to the heroes who stood up for freedom, justice, and the defense of property, life, and honor of their people. The mentioned note is published in three parts. It mentions the names of some resistance members and commanders, which is never meant to forget hundreds of our famous and unknown brave heroes and ignore their sacrifices.
FIRST PART
Before the fall of Kabul, it was believed that all the Panjshir celebrities in Kabul, most of them high-ranking officials, would go to the valley and resist. Vice President Amrullah Saleh stated the same conclusion a few weeks before the fall of Kabul in his speech at the opening ceremony of a mosque in the neighboring village of Haniz. He said: “If one day the Taliban wanted to take a commemorative photo at the grave of Amir Sahib (Ahmadshah Massoud), then they would have to kill 100 thousand Panjshiris". Each of us, in turn, had some calculations close to this exaggeration.
With the fall of Kabul on 24 Assad (August 15, 2021), we were all taken by surprise, and the path to Panjshir was cut off. A limited number of us reached Panjshir one after another with various tricks, but the number of famous people who came to the valley with the intention of joining the resistance was limited. Among them, along with Ahmad Masood, leader of the National Resistance Front, were Amrullah Saleh, Vice President, Abdul Hafiz Mansour, Member of the Reconciliation Council, Mohammad Alam Izadiyar, Deputy of the Senate, Saleh Mohammad Rigestani, former Member of Parliament, and myself, Fazl Ahmad Manavi, Minister of Justice.
A number of famous commanders who lived in Kabul also came to Panjshir with the intention of participating in the resistance. We will talk about their role and sacrifices too. Of course, a number of influential people and officials of the army and police also arrived in Panjshir from different provinces, including the chief of police of Kapisa province Najib Gulbahari with a large number of his personnel. Governor Fazluddinhan, Mr. Aminullah Shakuri, Chairman of the Provincial Council, Khaja Khalil, and Commander Janahmedkhan Haqjoo with their staff and group of fighters arrived from Parwan Province. From the province of Takhar, commanders Pirmuhammad Khaksar, Akramkhanbek, and Ibrahimbek, as well as General Latifkhan, commander of the Takhar brigade, who, after retreating, reached Panjshir with a large number of soldiers and equipment, joined the resistance. Commanders Kamin and Amirgul came from the province of Baghlan with a group of their people.
At the same time, the non-combat roles of Mawlawi Fazlulkarim Saraji and Abdulwaris Samdani, Senator Faizi, Judges Abdulwar Dar and Hussein Said (Head of the Legal Department of the Ministry of National Defense), Martyr Fahim Dashti, Dr. Salim Ahmadi, Azmuddin Mirzaei, Chairman of the Panjshir Provincial Council, the late Mavlono Qurban Farid and Abdusamad Khawaki cannot be forgotten in mobilizing the people and organizing resistance.
It is worth noting that scattered Afghan security forces, mainly from Parwan, Kapisa, Kunduz, Takhar, Badakhshan, and Baghlan, entered Panjshir along with some jihadist commanders from Parwan and Kapisa. They initially decided to counterattack the Taliban to recapture Parwan and Kapisa from the Taliban's hands. At that time, the forces were not yet fully formed, and their request was rejected by the leadership of the Resistance Front. The argument was that we should not go to war first and allow the Taliban to be seen as the aggressor. If the Taliban entered the war and started it, the religious and moral legitimacy would belong to us, which is what happened later.
After the failure of negotiations, the content of which was nothing more than the capitulation of the resistance, the course of which I will describe in detail in another note, the Taliban war for Panjshir began with six sides. Of course, attacks were also expected from some other inaccessible entrances to the valley, such as the Allah Akbar, Parande, Kulandur passes (connecting the Obshor region of Panjshir with the Nijarab region of Kapizo province) and a number of other routes. However, there were almost no attacks from these routes, but precautions were observed on them, and worries about them mentally and physically occupied our resistance fighters to a certain extent.
After several days and nights of continuous and intense fighting, both sides suffered casualties. The losses of the aggressors were tens of times higher than those of the Resistance Front, but even in this case, they were unable to break through our line of defense from the main path of the Panjshir mouth and penetrate into the valley. Our line of defense was broken through at the Khavak pass (the road connecting Panjshir to Andarab).
General Davoud Safedchehr, commander of the Khawak Front, did not sleep for several nights defending this line, and he and a group of his comrades fought to the death. Also, the resistance fighters of the Khinj camp, led by Gulmuhammed, fought bravely. Turyalai, known as the commander of Tur, heroically resisted and showed his bravery until the last moment, until he and eight of his comrades died as martyrs. Commanders Mahmudbekkhan Pariyan, Abdulhabib Safedchehr, Hashim Dara, Haji Gulmirzo from the Abdullakhel valley, Zabehurrahman who penetrated into the heart of the enemy like Khalid bin Walid, Turabbaskhan a brave and epic fighter, Koko Faqir Zikuyakchi who created many problems for the enemy can be mentioned in list of other names and epic heroes of that grueling war.
The commanders and mujahideen of Andarab also settled on the Khawak defense line after retreating from Andarab. Andarabians are fearless warriors who welcome death and martyrdom as they welcome life and death. For this reason, the enemy was very afraid to confront them. But the enemy forces with their equipment and tanks were much greater, which made it impossible to hold the line of defense.
Commanders Khalid Amiri, Munib Amiri, martyr Akmal Amir (a dedicated and selfless warrior), Abdulmubin Khairkha, and Hamid Saifi, a hero wounded in body but with a soul full of love, sacrifice, courtesy, ethics and humility, as well as other young special forces soldiers under the leadership of the commander-in-chief of the front, Salehmuhammed Registani, we went to the Khavak front. They tried to create another line of defense in the Obi-Hawak area and occupied some narrow sections of the pass. But with the high speed of the enemy’s advance and the road construction equipment he had, the second line of defense was broken through. Commander Munib and several of his men were besieged by the enemy and there was a danger that they were about to be captured.
Commander Munib was seriously wounded in the fighting in Mazar-e-Sharif and had one eye seriously damaged, but he never stopped defending his homeland and fought fiercely. The efforts of these two brothers should be envied, their history will be remembered and they will be praised. They buried Commander Mirzaji, who was one of their relatives. In those days and nights, he suffered martyrdom in Darband in full-time battle. Khalid and Munib returned to the front. Shahid Marzaji was one of the famous mujahideen during the jihad and the first resistance of Panjshir and the commander of the Tawakh camp. He was so fearless and zealous that he considered the construction of fortifications a vice and with his unique courage said: “What is the Taliban that we should build fortifications against them and fight from within?” Truly, if that sniper with night vision “bzbzak” had not aimed at him in the darkness of the night, the enemy would never have been able to defeat him.
The role of Hamid Saifi and martyr Akmal Amir was very prominent in the rescue of Commander Muneeb and his comrades. Together, along with several other resistance fighters, they launched a counterattack to break the siege through the Tul Pass and rescued Commander Munib and his comrades from a difficult and dangerous enemy siege.
(To be continued)
