On the mountains that have survived with foreign invaders for decades, anti-Taliban fighters fired heavy machine guns attached to deep valleys.
They are members of the Front Resistance National (NRF) – the most prominent Afghan opposition group to emerge since the Taliban arrested Kabul nine days ago.
With militia fighters and former government soldiers in their ranks, the NRF has established a machine gun nest, mortar and supervisory post-enriched with sandbags to anticipate the Taliban attack on their bastion, Panjshir Valley.
His fighters, many of them in military fatigue, patrolled in areas in humve and technical were made – pickup trucks with machine guns installed on the back.
Many carry assault rifles, grenades driven by rockets and walkie-talkies.
Some poses on their vehicles with a dramatic background from the peak covered in snow in the valley, which starts around 80 km north of Kabul.
“We will rub their faces on the ground,” said a warrior in a position in Panjshir Heights, included a past victory against the Taliban.
His friends then raised their fists and shouted “Allah-u Akbar” (God was great).
Strategic Valley – Aluminated mainly by ethnic Tajiks – offers natural defense points, with narrow entrances in high mountainous shadows.
“If the Taliban warlord launches an attack, they will of course face loyal resistance from us,” Ahmad Massoud, one of the leaders of the NRF, said at the Washington Post post last week.
He was the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud’s final guerrilla commander, respected for turning the Panjshir valley into an anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban fortress.
The familiar defensive preparation for Panjshir’s residents who saw Massoud foiled many Soviet attacks in the 1980s and Taliban tried to take the area in the late 1990s.
A spokesman NRF said on weekends that he was ready to fight the Taliban aggression but wanted to negotiate with Islamists about inclusive government.
Taliban also said they wanted to handle the situation in peace, but they led their teeth by sending hundreds of fighters to the area.
Former Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who headed to the valley after falling Kabul, said the humanitarian disaster was being brewed.
“Talibs do not allow food & fuel to enter Andab Valley,” he tweeted, referring to an area under the control of Taliban which borders the northwest.
“Thousands of women & children have fled to the mountains.” NRF said it was ready to fight, but it was still unclear whether the power had supplies and equipment to withstand a long siege by the Taliban.