Qari Fasihuddin, the Taliban’s chief of staff, said a strong and orderly army would soon be established in Afghanistan and that all those who stood up to the Taliban in the name of ethnicity and resistance to support “democracy and preserve the achievements of the past 20 years” would be suppressed.
He made the remarks at a rally in Kabul on Wednesday (September 15th), adding that “those who seek to disrupt security and bloodshed in the country will not be allowed to do so,” effectively equating democracy with security disruption and determined repression and bloodshed as punishment!
Although Fassih al-Din did not directly refer to Ahmad Massoud and the Panjshir resistance group, it is clear that he meant the “resistance” of Ahmad Massoud and his allies in Panjshir.
It is noteworthy that following the bloody clashes between the two sides in the Panjshir Valley, and despite the Taliban announcing their victory, the resistance forces announced that guerrilla warfare against the Taliban had just begun and would continue until the group surrendered to the will of the people.
Earlier, a Taliban spokesman said: “the Taliban is trying to secure and train a group of police officers in Kabul to provide security (repression and intimidation) and dispatch other Taliban fighters currently in Kabul to other provinces.”
It appears, “According to Gen. Kenneth Mackenzie, the commander of US Central Command, Centcom, in a meeting with the Senate Armed Services Committee last April, who said the Taliban was expected to have about 75,000 troops,” if the group fails to recruit, the new forces will face serious difficulties in maintaining power and continuing the method of repression and intimidation.
