The Battle for Afghanistan is far from over.
The people do not want the Taliban in power by a wide margin, but the Taliban have a lot of the military strength.
Currently, the main group fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan is the National Resistance Front (NRF).
The National Resistance Front is for all Afghans, but is led by ethnic Tajiks like Ahmad Massoud, son of the famous Lion of Panjshir.
While the NRF have held out in crucial areas of the Panjshir Valley, recently, the NRF has been expanding out. A key part of their plan is about getting border land so that they can create some sort of a contiguous territory that includes a foreign nation to operate from.
The NRF did that this week, reportedly capturing Shekey District of the Badakhshan Province. This district borders Tajikistan, and Tajikistan is an alleged ally of the NRF.
According to credible sources, the two leaders of the NRF, Ahmad Massoud and Amrullah Saleh, live in Tajikistan. This will mean that Tajikistan and the NRF will be able to transport more goods and materials into NRF-controlled territory without having to pass Taliban-controlled land.
But, it must be stated that to get to all NRF-controlled territory, you still have to pass Taliban-controlled land. NRF does not have contiguous control of their controlled territories.
Nonetheless, this report of the NRF capturing the Shekey District is one small step in the plan to unite the North and then the whole country.
The NRF is a successor to the Northern Alliance that returned the de jure leaders back to power in 2001 with the help of NATO and other allies. Currently, the NRF is fighting to return the de jure leaders of Afghanistan back into power as well.
The Shekey District is not the only district the NRF controls that borders Tajikistan. There is one more piece of border territory the NRF controls. Besides this, all non-Taliban controlled land is inland in Afghanistan, and away from the borders.
KTH 