Panjsher has been one of the peaceful provinces of Afghanistan where security responsibilities are handled by the country’s national security forces. The Panjsher valley is where the Taliban could not infiltrate during their military campaign in mid 90s to bring whole Afghanistan under their control. For several times they planned to capture the valley but each time they faced failure. Their failure was largely because Panjsher is all surrounded by mountains and it was easy for anti-Taliban groups to stop the Taliban at the entrance of the valley.
On Thursday, the Taliban insurgents once again tried to enter the Panjsher valley with two explosive-laden vehicles. But they were stopped at Dalan Sang area – considered the gate of Panjsher valley – and the insurgents detonated their explosives as result of which 11 people mainly police personnel were killed and at least 30 more were injured. This can be called the deadliest terror attack in Panjsher after the fall of Taliban regime in 2001. President Hamid Karzai has strongly condemned the attack but has called a plot by alien puppets not attributing it directly to the Taliban.
Terror attacks have been infrequent in Panjsher province. However, since 2011 the insurgents have tried to disrupt peace and security of the province. In May, 2013 half a dozen Taliban suicide bombers, some dressed as police, killed a policeman in a rare attack on a governor's compound in Panjsher valley. In the same province, in July 2011, a rogue NDS agent killed two NATO soldiers and injured the third one before he was gunned down.
Taliban’s latest attack in Afghanistan's fiercely anti-Taliban Panjsher valley is a stark indication of their broadening reach. Being able to launch attack in Panjsher, where people hate Taliban the most, is an indicator of Taliban’s growing breadth of operation. It is expected that suicide attacks, roadside bombs, coordinated attacks and other form of insurgency that the Taliban have been practicing might increase in the months to come. The fighting season in Afghanistan has just begun as the weather is getting warmer.
Indeed, specific security plans must be prepared by the government to counter spring attacks of insurgents in Kabul and other major cities of Afghanistan. Taliban’s attack in Panjsher province must be taken a ‘warning signal’ by other relatively-peaceful provinces like Bamiyan. In such provinces, the ANSF must implement security plans that could prevent any possible attack from Taliban.