Pakistan sent commandos and drones in Panjshir Valley to help Taliban, reports

With Panjshir continuing to be a thorn in the Taliban’s side, the Pakistani military is reportedly helping the extremist group fight the Resistance.

Pakistani Air Force reportedly used drones to drop bombs on Panjshir while the country also sent special forces to assist the Taliban in capturing the defiant province. This coincided with Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed arriving in Kabul amid infighting in the Taliban ranks over the issue of government formation.

Pakistan has been deploying armed drones to support the Taliban assault on the National Resistance Front (NRF) in the Panjshir valley on Sunday.

Taliban’s claim of occupying Panjshir is false. The NRF forces are present in all strategic positions across the valley to continue the fight. We assure the ppl of Afghanistan that the struggle against the Taliban & their partners will continue until justice & freedom prevails.

— National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (@nrfafg) September 6, 2021

The visuals show Pakistani helicopters and commandos aiding the Taliban to attack the resistance forces who are putting up a fight against the insurgents from Panjshir. The evidence of Pakistan’s direct involvement comes amid repeated allegations from resistance leaders who have held Pakistan responsible for aiding the Taliban.

The death of Fahim Dashty, a well-known Afghan journalist and spokesperson of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, who was killed in fighting in Panjshir province on Sunday, was a “target killing”, reported News18.

The Taliban had claimed on Monday that it had taken complete control of the Panjshir valley, but the NRF denied the claim and declared it would continue fighting.

Zia Arianjad, who represented Samangan in the Afghan Parliament, told India Today early on Monday that “Panjshir was bombed by Pakistani Air Force drones using smart bombs.”

Tajuden Soroush, correspondent for UK-based Iran International, tweeted that Kamaluddin Nezami, governor of Panjshir, had told him that resistance positions “were bombed by drones several times”. Soroush added the Taliban had dismissed the claims of Pakistani drone attacks on Panjshir as “completely false”.

Babak Taghvaee, a defence analyst who has monitored the region extensively, tweeted Pakistan used CH-4 drones, supplied by China, to carry out missile attacks in Panjshir. Taghvaee claimed the drone attacks were responsible for killing Fahim Dashti, the spokesperson for the NRF.

Media reports in January claimed Pakistan had taken delivery of five CH-4 drones from China. The CH-4 can stay airborne for up to 30 hours and can carry anti-tank missiles to hit targets on the ground.

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Iraq, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt and Myanmar are other nations that operate the CH-4. Saudi Arabia and UAE have used the CH-4 in their operations against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

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