The Taliban said Monday it has taken control of Panjshir province north of Kabul, the last holdout of anti-Taliban forces in the country and the only province the militants had not seized during their blitz across Afghanistan last month.
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Thousands of fighters overran eight districts of Panjshir overnight, according to witnesses from the area. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid issued a statement, saying Panjshir was now under the Taliban control. "We tried our best to solve the problem through negotiations, and they rejected talks, and then we had to send our forces to fight," Mujahid told a press conference in Kabul later Monday.
The anti-Taliban forces had been led by the former vice president, Amrullah Saleh, and also the son of the iconic anti-Taliban fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud who was killed just days before the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
