Taliban invite Pakistan, China, Russia and others to attend government formation ceremony
Taliban have sent out invitations to several countries, including Pakistan, China and Russia, to attend the ceremony of the new government formation in Afghanistan. Notably, these three are among the very few countries still operating their embassies in the Central Asian country that has been taken over by the insurgents.
A pro-Taliban Twitter handle tweeted the following: “The Islamic Emirate has invited Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, Russia, China and Iran to attend the new government ceremony.”
The tweet came on a day when the Taliban claimed to have captured the last battlefront in Afghanistan where they had been meeting resistance - the Panjshir Valley.
The Taliban had managed to capture the country at a lightning speed following the US decision to pull out from the country and Kabul was captured on August 15, more than two weeks before the US deadline to withdraw last of its troops from the country. However, the resistance their lightning-fast rout of Afghanistan's army last month and fighters kept the insurgents at bay from the mountainous Panjshir Valley.
"With this victory, our country is completely taken out of the quagmire of war," Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. A post on social media by the Taliban showed its fighters at the Governor's office of Panjshir province.
However, the National Resistance Front (NRF) said Panjshir had not fallen yet, their fighters were still in "strategic positions" across the valley, and that they would continue to fight and resist.