Taliban claim total control over Afghanistan

The Taliban on Monday claimed total control over Afghanistan, saying they had won the key battle for the Panjshir Valley, the last remaining holdout of resistance against their rule.

Following their lightning-fast victory in mid-August over the former Afghan government's security forces and the withdrawal of US troops after 20 years of war, the Taliban turned to fighting the forces defending the mountainous Panjshir Valley.

As the Islamist hardliners claimed victory, their chief spokesman warned against any further attempts to rise up against their rule while urging former members of the security forces to join their regime's ranks.

"With this victory, our country is completely taken out of the quagmire of war," chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

"Anyone who tries to start an insurgency will be hit hard. We will not allow another," he later added at a press conference in Kabul.

The Taliban published a video of their flag being raised over the governor's house in Panjshir -- underscoring a historic win that has seen the anti-Taliban bastion defeated for the first time during 40 years of conflict.  

It remained in the hands of resistance fighters during Soviet rule, a subsequent civil war and the Taliban's first regime of the late 1990s.

The National Resistance Front (NRF) in Panjshir -- made up of anti-Taliban militia and former Afghan security forces -- on Sunday acknowledged suffering major battlefield losses and called for a ceasefire.

But on Monday the group said in a tweet that its fighters were still present in "strategic positions" in the valley.

The NRF includes local fighters loyal to Ahmad Massoud -- the son of the famous anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud -- as well as remnants of the Afghan military that retreated to the Panjshir Valley.

As Taliban fighters amassed in the valley, Massoud on Monday called on Afghans in and out of the country to "rise up in resistance".

Taliban government 

The Taliban are yet to finalise their new regime after rolling into the capital Kabul three weeks ago at a speed that analysts say likely surprised even the militants themselves.

As they undertake a mammoth transition into overseeing key institutions and cities of hundreds of thousands of people, Mujahid said an interim government would first be announced, allowing for later changes.

"Final decisions have been taken, we are now working on the technical issues," he said at a press conference. 

Afghanistan's new rulers have pledged to be more "inclusive" than during their first stint in power, with a government that represents Afghanistan's complex ethnic makeup -- though women are unlikely to be included at the top levels.

Women's freedoms in Afghanistan were sharply curtailed under the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule. 

This time, women will be allowed to attend university as long as classes are segregated by sex or at least divided by a curtain, the Taliban's education authority said in a lengthy document issued on Sunday.

But female students must wear an abaya (robe) and niqab (face-veil), as opposed to the even more conservative burqa mandatory under the previous Taliban regime.

However, some universities in Kabul remained closed on Monday and those that did open saw a drastic fall in the number of students -- some who complied with the new rules, and others who resisted. 

Afghans are also facing a host of other challenges, including looming financial and humanitarian crises, although the Taliban on Sunday pledged to guarantee the safety of humanitarian workers and aid access in a meeting with the UN humanitarian chief.

Flurry of diplomacy 

The international community is coming to terms with the new Taliban regime with a flurry of diplomacy.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived Monday in Qatar, a key player in the Afghan saga.

Qatar, which hosts a major US military base, has been the gateway for 55,000 people airlifted out of Afghanistan, nearly half the total evacuated by US-led forces after the Taliban takeover. 

Shortly before Blinken's landing, an official disclosed that four Americans had left Afghanistan by land to an undisclosed neighbouring country with Taliban knowledge, in the first departures arranged by Washington since its chaotic military pullout.

Blinken will also speak to the Qataris about efforts alongside Turkey to reopen Kabul's airport, which is necessary for flying in humanitarian aid and evacuating remaining Afghans.

Blinken will then head Wednesday to the US air base in Ramstein, Germany, a temporary home for thousands of Afghans moving to the United States, from which he will hold a virtual 20-nation ministerial meeting on the crisis alongside German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday pledged to "do everything we can to ensure" safe passage out of Afghanistan for over 300 Afghans eligible for relocation for their work with British forces but who were left behind in the evacuation efforts.