Lavrov warns the Taliban against resisting the "Five Lions"

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that the resistance against the Taliban is concentrated in Panjshir with Vice President Amrullah Saleh and son of the late leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, calling for talks to form a "representative government" in Afghanistan.

Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow that "the Taliban does not control all the Afghan territory. Information is received about the situation in the Panjshir Valley" northeast of Kabul, "where the resistance forces of Vice President Amrullah Saleh and Ahmad Masoud are stationed."

Lavrov again called for "a national dialogue that would allow the formation of a representative government," stressing that Russia was mainly insisting on such a mechanism to end the Afghan conflict before the Taliban took control of Kabul and most of the country.

Moscow supported an initiative in this direction by former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and issued reassuring statements that indicate openness towards the Taliban.

For his part, former Vice President Amrullah Saleh vowed not to succumb to the Taliban and retreated to the Banshir Valley.

And he appeared in pictures on social networking sites on Monday with Ahmed Masoud in this region, laying the foundations of a resistance movement.

In an article published by the Washington Post last Wednesday, Ahmed Masoud, the son of the commander Ahmed Shah Massoud, who was assassinated by al-Qaeda, called for US support with weapons and ammunition for the militias he leads in Afghanistan in order to resist the Taliban that regained power in Kabul.

According to press reports, the state of Panjshir, whose name means "the Five Lions", is still outside the control of the Taliban, noting that this state is inhabited by about 172,000 people, and most of its residents are Tajiks, and is preparing to confront the Taliban.

Those sources claimed that military leaders in the Banshir Valley are preparing for a major battle against the Taliban, with the help of 20 military bases in the province.

The Taliban has never been able to control the inaccessible Panjshir Valley.

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