KABUL
\nThe Taliban\u2019s foreign minister said on Monday he held talks in Iran on the weekend with Ahmad Massoud, son of the late legendary Afghan resistance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, and guaranteed his security if he returned home. Massoud\u2019s Panjshir Valley forces provided the last resistance in September to the Taliban\u2019s takeover of Afghanistan, weeks after government troops capitulated.
\nIn a video posted on Monday by state media on Twitter, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said he also met Ismail Khan, a Herat province warlord who surrendered to the Taliban and left the country. The Taliban had announced Muttaqi\u2019s departure to Tehran for talks with Iranian officials but made no mention of any plans to meet exiled leaders.
\n\u201cWe met commander Ismail Khan and Ahmad Massoud, and other Afghans in Iran, and assured them that anyone can come to Afghanistan and live without any concerns,\u201d Muttaqi said in the video.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s home to all, and we do not create insecurity or other problems for anyone. Everyone can come freely and live.\u201d
\nThe Panjshir Valley is famed for being the site of resistance to Soviet forces in the 1980s and the Taliban in the late 1990s, during their first stint in power.
\nIts most revered figure is Ahmad Shah Massoud, known as the \u201cLion of Panjshir\u201d, who was assassinated in 2001 by al Qaeda two days before the 9\/11 attacks.
\nHis son has since picked up the mantle, and there have been reports of him organising a resistance with other exiled Afghan leaders.
\nThe Massoud-led National Resistance Front has repeatedly denounced the Taliban \u2014 calling it an \u201cillegitimate government\u201d \u2014 but does not appear to have made any physical attacks.
\nAfghanistan\u2019s former president Ashraf Ghani fled the country with many top officials as the Taliban closed in on Kabul, but several other prominent leaders remained \u2014 including ex-head of state Hamid Karzai.
\nThe Taliban promised a general amnesty to all opponents and critics after taking over, but rights organisations say at least 100 people associated with the former regime have been killed since then.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KABUL The Taliban\u2019s foreign minister said on Monday he held talks in Iran on the weekend with Ahmad Massoud, son of the late legendary Afghan resistance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, and guaranteed his security if he returned home. Massoud\u2019s Panjshir Valley forces provided the last resistance in September to the Taliban\u2019s takeover of Afghanistan, weeks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-238042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n