“How significant is resistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan?”

“Nazary said the Taliban has brought many forces into the region, including some of their most elite fighters; however, it has had little to no success rooting out the NRF. The NRF has had increased luck recruiting new fighters as a result of its success, Nazary said, helping grow its forces into something that they hope can one day mount an offensive capable of taking territory.

The narrative painted by Nazary stands in stark contrast to that of the Taliban, who have strongly denied that fighting has been happening in the region. Shortly after the last of the U.S. troops left Afghanistan, the Taliban fought with the remaining pockets of resistance in the Panjshir Valley, and it claims to now have full control of the security situation there.

Roggio said part of the challenge with tracking how strong the resistance truly is stems from a lack of reliable information, noting that the Taliban has been successful in keeping the fighting away from major cities and containing it to the country’s most remote areas. There is also a lack of reporting from independent press, who depend on the Taliban to gain access to the area and are often only able to see what the Taliban wants them to see.

National Resistance Front fighters in Afghanistan have launched attacks against the Taliban 

National Resistance Front fighters in Afghanistan have launched attacks against the Taliban  (National Resistance Front)

According to a Washington Post report in June, locals in the contested valleys have cast at least some doubt on the Taliban’s narrative. Reports of heavy fighting and casualties have spread from village to village, while civilian casualties have also increased as a result of the fighting.

Roggio believes the truth likely rests somewhere between the competing narratives, arguing that the NRF represents a threat to the Taliban but the Taliban still maintains the upper hand in terms of areas it controls and equipment it possesses.

“They obviously are not merely a nuisance,” Roggio said of the NRF.

Roggio noted that the NRF campaign is mostly dependent on guerilla tactics currently and a growing movement could help them take control of contested areas with strong anti-Taliban sentiment. However, for the organization to be truly successful in its long term objectives, it would need some sort of support, most likely from countries friendly to its cause.

Nazary spends much of his time lobbying for international support, basing himself out of Washington D.C., and Tajikistan in an attempt to sell the NRF as a legitimate challenger to Taliban rule, he told Fox News Digital. He paints the fight as a continuation of the U.S. and allied war on terror, pointing out that NRF forces have also engaged in fighting against terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.”

How significant is resistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan? | Fox News

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19 Responses to “How significant is resistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan?”

  1. Personanongrata says:

    Roggio said part of the challenge with tracking how strong the resistance truly is stems from a lack of reliable information, noting that the Taliban has been successful in keeping the fighting away from major cities and containing it to the country’s most remote areas.

    National Resistance Front fighters in Afghanistan have launched attacks against the Taliban (National Resistance Front)

    Roggio noted that the NRF campaign is mostly dependent on guerilla tactics currently and a growing movement could help them take control of contested areas with strong anti-Taliban sentiment.

    Claims of NRF using guerilla tactics when attacking Taliban targets calls into question the assertion that the Taliban has been successful in keeping the fighting away from major cities and containing it to the country’s most remote areas as the use of guerilla tactics would allow attackers to pick the time and place of an attack.

    Nazary spends much of his time lobbying for international support, basing himself out of Washington D.C., and Tajikistan in an attempt to sell the NRF as a legitimate challenger to Taliban rule, he told Fox News Digital. He paints the fight as a continuation of the U.S. and allied war on terror, pointing out that NRF forces have also engaged in fighting against terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.”

    This article reads like a public service announcement for Nazary and for continued US military involvement in Afghanistan.

  2. Fred says:

    So the same old people who spent two decades feeding at the trough have run out of our money and come back for more, from the safety of D.C. no less.

  3. Deap says:

    How significant is the threat of the Afghan Taliban hooking up with the Pakistan Taliban and using Biden’s abandoned US military equipment to take over Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal?

    While we worry about Iran or NK, these 7th century ideology troops strung across the roof of the world come in the back door and gain nuclear terrorism hegemony. While China’s Belt and Road all-weather transportation corridor takes them rapidly both east and west.

    Should China be concerned about this the growing Taliban potential for nuclear terrorism? Is this driving China’s repression in Xinjiang.

    How secure is Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. What defense agreements do we have.

  4. cobo says:

    “…as a continuation of the U.S. and allied war on terror…” The war on terror is so Bush league. Let’s rethink the war thing. Where are the resources we require? Are those who occupy that land our friends or our enemies? Make business with our friends and kill our enemies. Just like that.

  5. jim ticehurst says:

    This is an Interesting replay…I Would Like the Expert Analysis By Colonel Lang
    and His Comments…
    of this Play on Afghanistan Matters..Do we Get Involved..CIA..?? Just for Intel and Observations..Drone Programs..??
    This is a Limited Gurilla War Against the Taliban..Fighters Just Like Them..who just Overran ALL Of Afghanistan in a Few Months this year..And Control Kabul.and all The Highland and Low Lands. .and .And Are Heavily Armed and Strengthened…from The Surrender this Year To Them By Order of Burka Biden.. ( The MASK)..

    Any American Operation Now Is NOT Going to Be Aganist an Enemy Like Russsia..
    Who Was There Fighting The Mujahideen from Dec 24th 1979 to Feb 15th 1989..

    Oh No..Russia had 1/2 Million troops..They Killed 90,000 Mujahindeen.. and 10,000 Afghanistan Troops…And ONE Million Civilians..

    Russia lost 15,000 troops..and Finally went home..

    That Took 10 years..We Never went Back to Viet Nam after the Surrender..
    We Should Not Consider a Repeat of a Winless Operation in The Highlands..
    just to Kill more people..Nam Started and Ended This way It Seems..
    JT

    • Pat Lang says:

      JT
      If we wsh to make permanent trouble for the medievalist Taliban, it will not be hard to do. CIA is always just a legal from for the US armed forces because they have legal authority to wage war without an AUMF. All it takes is a presidential “finding.” Thia is a policy matter.

  6. jim ticehurst says:

    Pat…Thank You.. In This Matter…Sounds Right…Fact Is…Osama Bin Laden
    Moved into Afghanistan in 1986 to Fight The bRussian..Wanted to Have Camps there
    so He Created Six Operational Camps by 1988…The Russians left in 1989..

    The Al-Quaeda Then Murdered Resistance Leader Massoud..on September 9 2001
    After Many Years of Terrorist Attacks Around the World On US Targets..They Then spent Long Preperations Training For the 9/11 Attack inside The USA..After Infiltration…and Traing Inside the USA without interference From the FBI..

    The Muder of Massoud in Afghanistan… 9-9.-2001..was Called..”The Curtain Raiser’ For Qaeda 9/11/2001 Attack on New York City and Washington DC..

    It Was Bin Ladens Insurance He Would Continue Safe Haven and Protection
    in Afghanistan…by the Ruling TALIBAN..

    This Year Joe Biden announced that FULL WITHDRAWL of American Forces would By Complete from Afghanistan..by “9/11/2021”.. To The Ruling TALIBAN..
    JT

    • Pat Lang says:

      jt
      OBL
      was not associated with the Taliban. He was with the Sayyaf group of mujahideen. Ye Taliban were created in Pakistan and came into Afghanistan during the civil war among the Mujahos groups.

      • Wunduk says:

        “OBL was greeted in May 1996 in Jalalabad airport by Professor Sayyaf, Siddiq Chakari [of Jamiat], Fazl al-Haqq Mujahid [of Hezb-i Islami Hekmatyar], Saz Noor [of Sayyaf’s party] and a number of others [including Engineer Mahmud and Dr. Amin al-Haqq from Yunus Khaled’s Hezb-i Islami]. They were entertained for lunch on that day by Commander Saz Noor. During this meal, the guest [Sayyaf] who had arrived from Kabul also participated.” – my translation and annotation from Wahid Muzhda “How did Osama Bin Laden return to Afghanistan?” Hasht-i Subh 15 October 2012, in which he responds to an earlier article in the same newspaper by Amrullah Saleh. Wahid Muzhda, who had worked in the Taliban judiciary, was assassinated on 20 November 2019, so obviously not for stating this widely accepted fact. Everyone in power in Kabul and not the Taliban brought him to Afghanistan. Airplanes were organised by a Maoist Minister of Civilian Aviation.

        The mutual attraction between OBL and the Taliban started after they took over in August 1996 and is likely due to the connection made through Yunus Khales (see Kevin Bell’s monograph: https://ctc.usma.edu/usama-bin-ladens-father-sheikh-yunus-khalis-and-the-return-of-al-qaidas-leadership-to-afghanistan/).

        Yunus’s Khales’ commander Jalaluddin Haqqani had at that time already joined the Taliban – his son Siraj is now Minister of Interior, his brother Khalil Minister for Refugees and his elder brother Ibrahim coordinates the business sector out of Ashraf Ghani’s former residence.

        Khales’ own son Matiullah is heads the Afghan Red Crescent Society in the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”

        Prof. Sayyaf enjoys exile in India since last August. Fazl al-Haqq, Saz Nor and Engineer Mahmud are no longer. Dr. Amin al-Haqq returned to Afghanistan with the Taliban in August 2021. Siddiq Chakari returned to Kabul on 12 June 2022.

  7. Fourth and Long says:

    Sorry, posted wo comment and link.

    This a factor in the JR Bildmore and Morenstein Scranton Stuttering champion’s masterful retreat from Afghan?

    “Ho ho ho” is what Jack in the Beanstalk swore he heard, but on our recording only “Fe Fi Fo Fum” could be extracted from the Fourier analysed tapes which were delivered in a strangely odiferous package with curious Logo: Monsiers Mac Abre and Sons, Ltd.

    Or as Viggo Mortensen’s character’s brother played by William Hurt in A History of Violence (2005) might have said: Broheem! My little bother Joey from Pennsylvania, what are you going to do now?

    https://vz.ru/world/2022/8/29/1174855.html

  8. Wunduk says:

    The fight put up by mostly former Republic military and police personnel in the Panjsher, Andarab and Khost-i Firing valley systems seems significant enough to the Taliban to openly express frustration and deploy their most experienced forces. A fatwa given in May and repeated in early August rules that all who fight against the Emirate and are taken prisoner are to be executed. Qayum Zaker is expected to mobilize his Helmand Alizai force, which is the most experienced Taliban bunch in existence. He and commander Pir Agha moved that force through the country to finish off ISIL Khorasan in Nangarhar 2018. They can fight in mountains. The Spin Ghar (that is where Tora Bora is) was a place where they prevailed over ISIL Khorasan. ISIL Khorasan up to this day claims they only succeeded thanks to US air support. Pir Agha is not longer around, he died of a traffic crash after returning from Hajj in late July, so all hopes of the Amir al-Mu’minin Hibbatallah now rest on Mullah Abd al-Qayum Zaker.

  9. jim ticehurst says:

    Wunduk..
    That Was Alot of good Data…at a High Level…Beyond my Scope But.Thank You..

    I Like to Do Backgrounds..on Players…Who..What..Why Etc…CSI Background;;
    Catching Bad People..So I Am Curious when Bad Guys keep Getting Away With Stuff
    and Why…So Im Curious..and Furious That OBL..Kept Getting Away..Until He Had His Network In The United States..Blowing up New York..Our Pentagon..Airline Passengers..and Crews..
    He was on the Scope in Afghanistan For Sure..Know To the CIA and US Intel..and
    Yet..President Bill Clinton..(Cigar Bill shamefully) His Buddy…. National Security
    Advisor Sandy Berger. Madilyn Albright ..And Other ILK…Kept telling CIA..They Wanted OBL Captured LIVE in Afghanistan..Mission Impossible..!!! Right
    Crap..Then Well Maybe Dead or Alive ..Maybe..which left CIA Confused…Finally The failed Drone Strike..(For Show..Because OBL had left Hours earlier) By Coincidence..Naturally..
    Up Til Mr.Bush Got The BAll..and dropped it…Another
    National Security Advisor Failure..PoliticaL Intrigue.” WhoCould Have Anticipated..

    Crap..Tell That to All The Dead Embassy Employees..Staff..and American Citizens..Blown Up and Murdered Long Before that by OBLs..Teams….clear back to Lebanon Operations.
    Why…Why So Many Failures By The United States Government To Protect Its Citizens…?? Oh Yes…FBI..What…?..You Cant take My Information..because HQ tells you Information About Arab Activity..Is “PROFILING..”

    Yes…National Security Advisors…Up to Trump and the Take Out of Gen Flynn
    To Move People Closeer to The Presidnet..Who were these Advisors…Backgrounds..??

    Oh Born In NY..Belong To Certain Groups..Went to Harvard..Liberal..Tend to lean Toward..Karl Marx thinking..Karl Was a “Landsman”..Crap..
    I Need an American Beer..
    JT

  10. JK/AR says:

    Colonel Lang?

    Yes Sir I see this post is addressing Afghanistan but I was hopeful you might apply some of your insight/expertise to the current state of affairs in Iraq. And, even if peripherally, how that may – by “some reports” – affect us.

    The current state of the US media makes it very difficult to discern among the discrepancies in its reportings.

    • Pat Lang says:

      JK/AR
      What is there to say? We created this form of government in Iraq. No we have to live with the consequences.

  11. Serge says:

    The most significant “resistance” is being waged by IS, which is conducting a devastating campaign of daily assassinations against Taliban figures and fighters, with multiple high profile assassinations against top figures occurring just in the past couple weeks, most recently today/yesterday in Herat.

  12. Wunduk says:

    Serge, I would put that IS Khorasan campaign down under “infighting” instead of resistance. The intra-jihadi killings are mutually reinforcing each other in the ideology of the Islamic Emirate / Caliphate, and are about spiritual direction and leadership. The Taliban used the same methods to solve their internal problems when they were in exile. Former financial commission chief Mu’tasim Agha ended up with nine bullets in his body back in 2009 or 10 if memory serves me right, Raqib Takhari was shot in the head when leaving the mosque in P. where he was praying, Hibatullah survived two IEDs at his own madrasa and mosque.

    You reference Friday’s assassination of Mujib Ansari in Herat. The man was not even a graduate of a madrasa, was hired by the former Republic to give anti-Taliban and anti-IS speeches, had relationships with Iran and Saudi Arabia at the same time, contacts with Westerners and even Israelis. In other words whoever did it supported the integrity of the umma. They are likely to expect gratitude for excising an untrustworthy element. Note that IS Khorasan has up now NOT taken credit for this attack.

    IS Khorasan claiming the attack targeting the Russian embassy yesterday is one way to show that Sirajuddin Haqqani’s people are unable to protect diplomatic missions and get credit with the mother ship for more funding. Some in Kandahar might applaud silently. Serves well these uppity Zadran Ghilzis with weak aqida who used to brag to have the monopoly over suicide bombers.

    None of these IS-claimed, directed or inspired assassinations aims to change the system, if caught the organisers would likely answer in every single case that they were only trying to “improve” the system.

    I think resistance is the word we like to keep for remnants of the Republic who bring together the MB-oriented former jihadists, their descendants and the more secular adherents to Daud’s 1973 project. Again, buckets of blood were spilt among these people over who controls which narcotics route and who insulted whose grandfather. They differ on how to deal with the Taliban. A majority tries to influence them through engagement, but some are fighting. What unifies them is the opposition to the Caliphate / Emirate (an absolute monarchy) which they want to see replaced with a more participatory form of government. Again significant differences persist in what that means for every actor, but it always involves a written constitution, a head of state/government and a legislative assembly elected by universal suffrage, and a judiciary separate from both.

    In order not to have them look too much like Montesquieu with a turban, I have to add that they believe this system serves their particular economic interests better (e.g. skim the aid money, exploit that coal/chromite/emerald mine or the drug lab in the backyard, operate an illegal border crossing or have special arrangements on a legal border crossing or international airport).

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