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NRF troops gather under the command of regional leader Ahmad Massoud in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley.

EYEPRESS via Reuters Connect

Armed, democratic, dug in: The Afghan resistance still fighting the Taliban

A year ago, as US forces withdrew from Afghanistan, the political leadership fled and the Afghan military deserted. Meanwhile, the Taliban conducted a shock offensive, taking over most of the country in less than two weeks.

But in the north, Ahmad Massoud, the son of slain nationalist leader and Taliban enemy Ahmad Shah Massoud, retreated to the Panjshir Valley in the Hindu Kush mountains to establish the National Resistance Front. Composed of remnants of the Kabul regime and the former Afghan military, the NRF insists on being the only legitimate and democratically oriented resistance to the Taliban.

We interviewed Ali Maisam Nazary, the NRF’s head of foreign relations currently based in Turkey, about its demands, claims, and vision for an Afghanistan where the Taliban are now the de facto government — and indeed a reality.

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