Afghan opposition leader says he’s open to negotiations with Taliban

An Afghan opposition leader in the last region resisting Taliban control announced on Facebook Sunday that he is ready to stop fighting and negotiate with the militant group, Reuters reported.

Ahmad Massoud, the leader of National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, said that he was open to religious scholars’ suggestions of peace talks after the Taliban said it had fought its way into the provincial capital of Panjshir province.

“The NRF in principle agree to solve the current problems and put an immediate end to the fighting and continue negotiations,” said Massoud, who is the son a prominent former guerrilla fighter. 

Massoud added his front would only agree to stop fighting if the Taliban made the same commitment in the Panjshir Valley and in the nearby Baghlan province.

The area is the last remaining holdout region against the Taliban, which swept through and captured most of Afghanistan last month amid the United State’s military withdrawal from the country. The Taliban seized the capital, Kabul, in mid-August, and is in the process of forming a national government. 

Massoud is a recognizable figure in Afghanistan in part because he is the son of deceased opposition leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was called the “Lion of Panjshir,” the Associated Press reported.

The elder Massoud was a main mujahedeen leader who helped defend the region against both Soviet and Taliban occupation in the 1980s and 1990s. He died about a decade later in a suicide bombing.

Seeking to alleviate fears of what its rule will look like, Taliban officials have said that will not seek retribution against past enemies and will protect the rights of women, albeit under its strict Islamic framework.

But many are skeptical, especially in light of recent events such as its crackdown Sunday of a peaceful demonstration calling for women’s rights in the country.