Religious scholars call for ceasefire between Taliban, Panjshir front

Kabul: Amid heavy fighting between the Taliban and Panjshir resistance forces, a number of religious scholars at a gathering in Kabul on Sunday asked both sides for the ceasefire.

Calling it an illegitimate war in the country, the clerics asked both sides to announce a ceasefire and to negotiate a peaceful solution, reported Tolo News.

“You are fighting based on what justification to kill your Muslim brothers? Dear scholars, if this situation continues, the country will turn into an ethnicity-based and region-based conflict,” said Abdul Qader Qanet, a religious scholar.

“You negotiated with the US behind closed doors for two years. You travelled to different countries. Shook hands with infidels and their women. But you are not ready to talk with your Muslim brothers,” said Mawlawi Mohammad Amin, a religious scholar, reported Tolo News.

University Lecturer Rahimullah Kashaf spoke at the gathering, “Thousands of children are hungry in Panjshir province and they need food which is not found there.”

Panjshir is the stronghold of the National Resistance Front, led by Ahmad Massoud, the son of late ex-Afghan guerrilla commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, and ex-Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who had declared himself caretaker president.