As the Taliban are still fighting it out with the Resistance Front for Panjshir and their government formation announcement is also getting delayed, US General Mark Milley thinks that there is a very good probability of a broader civil war, which will lead to a reconstitution of al Qaeda or a growth of ISIS, Milley told Fox News.
The pace at which the Taliban defeated the Afghan army and captured one province after another has, for the first time, been stunted in Panjshir valley, where the anti-Taliban forces are being led by Ahmad Massoud and Afghanistan’s former vice president Amrullah Saleh. With the battle for Panjshir going on, reports of Taliban-Haqqani power tussle has also surfaced, indicating that the Taliban’s rise to power will not be as smooth as it was thought seeing its lightning advances in Afghanistan.
Reports said about 600 Taliban have been killed in Panjshir while more than 1,000 Taliban have been captured. This comes after the Taliban claimed victory over Panjshir amid reports of massive bloodbath in the valley. A Taliban source said fighting was continuing in Panjshir but the advance had been slowed by landmines placed on the road to the capital Bazarak and the provincial governor’s compound, reported Al Jazeera.
“I think there’s at least a very good probability of a broader civil war,” said Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in his assessment.
The Panjshir leaders have been reaching out to the international bodies highlighting the humanitarian crisis created by the Taliban.
Mark Milley also commented on theUS’s exit and the unexpected fall of the Afghan army and he said that the collapse of the Afghan army happened at a much faster rate than was expected by anybody.
“The collapse of the Afghan army happened at a much faster rate and [was] very unexpected by pretty much everybody,” General Mark Milley told Fox in an interview. “And then with that is the collapse of the Afghan government.”