From John Nelson
KABUL: Taliban have claimed, in a now-viral video circulated on Social Media on Monday, that they have seized up to six million dollars and about 15 bricks of gold from the residence of former Afghan vice-president Amrullah Saleh.
However, no comments have been received from Amrullah Saleh in this regard.
Earlier, the Taliban swept to power last month and they said they had captured the Panjshir valley, the last holdout province, though the resistance has not conceded defeat. The capture of Panjshir was a significant achievement for the Taliban, who had never been able to hold the valley.
The group posted photos of its fighters standing in front of the provincial governor’s compound; much of the province is composed of smaller, remote mountain valleys that provide areas for opposition forces to regroup.
Last week, the ousted Afghan govt’s ambassador to Tajikistan had said Panjshiri leader Ahmad Shah Massoud and Amrullah Saleh had not fled Afghanistan and their resistance forces are still fighting the Taliban. Zahir Aghbar, envoy to Dushanbe under the govt of ousted Ashraf Ghani, told media in Tajikistan’s capital that he was in regular contact with Saleh and that the resistance leaders were out of general communication for security reasons. “I am in constant contact with Amrullah Saleh, who is currently in Panjshir and running the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan’s government,” he had said.
