Latest: Afghanistan developments live
Hundreds of Taliban fighters were heading to the rugged Panjshir valley on Sunday, the group said in a statement, raising fears of heavy fighting in the last stronghold of resistance to the militants.
"Hundreds of Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate are heading towards the state of Panjshir to control it, after local state officials refused to hand it over peacefully," the group wrote on its Arabic Twitter account.
Panjshir valley is the home of Ahmad Massoud, the son of a locally renowned veteran of the Afghan-Soviet war, the late resistance commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, who fought during a bitter civil war with the Taliban after the departure of Russians in 1989.
Mr Massoud has formed the National Resistance Front, a political and military organisation in the valley that is opposed to the Taliban's rule.
Ali Maisam Nazary, a spokesman for Mr Massoud, said on Sunday that a force of 9,000 fighters had gathered in the valley and was preparing for "long term conflict".
Thousands of Afghan civilians and a smaller number of security forces fled to the valley following the sudden fall of Kabul on August 15, joined by Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who grew up in the valley and fought alongside Mr Massoud's forces.
Panjshir leaders defiant
In recent days, the National Resistance Front has been taking part in government formation talks with the Taliban, but any chance of agreement has seemed remote.
Last week, Mr Massoud told the Atlantic Council that "local militias" should be supported across the country to resist the Taliban. On Friday, he told The National that any clashes in Panjshir would lead "to a very bloody and hard war because the people of Panjshir are going to fight to the very last breath.”
"The conditions for a peace deal with the Taliban is decentralisation – a system that ensures social justice, equality, rights, and freedom for all," Mr Nazary told AFP.
Mr Saleh has been similarly defiant since the ousting of President Ashraf Ghani.
"I won't disappoint millions who listened to me. I will never be under one ceiling with Taliban," Mr Saleh tweeted as Kabul fell to the militants.
Notorious terrain
A bloody battle for Panjshir valley could prove a headache for the militants, former foes of Mr Massoud’s father, who led a band of Tajik locals defending the valley, firstly against the Soviets in the 1980s and later, against the Taliban during the Afghan civil war.
The Panjshir valley became infamous for Russian forces during the Soviet-Afghan war. Between 1980 and 1985, the Russians launched nine offensives to clear the valley of Massoud’s Mujahideen fighters.
Each offensive consisted of a full infantry division, around 15,000 men, backed by heavy bomber air support from the sprawling Bagram air base near Kabul, with Russian aircraft raining bombs onto the villages in the valley.
All but one of the offensives made progress – the fifth operation in 1982, where elite paratroopers managed to get into the valley through parallel gorges.
The short-lived Russian advance forced Massoud to press for a ceasefire with the Russians, but he used the time to regroup his forces and the violence began again.
The valley never fell, an ominous historical fact for the Taliban who possess a small number of captured aircraft that they are unlikely to be able to operate effectively, in contrast to the now defunct Soviet air force.
But the Taliban may have some advantages that the Russians lacked in a new struggle for the valley.
Many Russians sent to fight in the mountains of Afghanistan were conscripts who suffered poor morale. Russian infantry divisions also had extensive logistical requirements, a problem exacerbated by Afghanistan's rugged mountainous terrain and harsh climate.
By contrast, the Taliban also have smaller logistical requirements and may have more success rallying forces to the Panshir region.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
LAST-16 FIXTURES
Sunday, January 20
3pm: Jordan v Vietnam at Al Maktoum Stadium, Dubai
6pm: Thailand v China at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
9pm: Iran v Oman at Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Monday, January 21
3pm: Japan v Saudi Arabia at Sharjah Stadium
6pm: Australia v Uzbekistan at Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
9pm: UAE v Kyrgyzstan at Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tuesday, January 22
5pm: South Korea v Bahrain at Rashid Stadium, Dubai
8pm: Qatar v Iraq at Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, second leg:
Liverpool (0) v Barcelona (3), Tuesday, 11pm UAE
Game is on BeIN Sports
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5
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FULL%20FIGHT%20CARD
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The details
Heard It in a Past Life
Maggie Rogers
(Capital Records)
3/5
2019 ASIAN CUP FINAL
Japan v Qatar
Friday, 6pm
Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi
if you go
The flights Fly Dubai, Air Arabia, Emirates, Etihad, and Royal Jordanian all offer direct, three-and-a-half-hour flights from the UAE to the Jordanian capital Amman. Alternatively, from June Fly Dubai will offer a new direct service from Dubai to Aqaba in the south of the country. See the airlines’ respective sites for varying prices or search on reliable price-comparison site Skyscanner.
The trip
Jamie Lafferty was a guest of the Jordan Tourist Board. For more information on adventure tourism in Jordan see Visit Jordan. A number of new and established tour companies offer the chance to go caving, rock-climbing, canyoning, and mountaineering in Jordan. Prices vary depending on how many activities you want to do and how many days you plan to stay in the country. Among the leaders are Terhaal, who offer a two-day canyoning trip from Dh845 per person. If you really want to push your limits, contact the Stronger Team. For a more trek-focused trip, KE Adventure offers an eight-day trip from Dh5,300 per person.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The specs: 2018 BMW X2 and X3
Price, as tested: Dh255,150 (X2); Dh383,250 (X3)
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged inline four-cylinder (X2); 3.0-litre twin-turbo inline six-cylinder (X3)
Power 192hp @ 5,000rpm (X2); 355hp @ 5,500rpm (X3)
Torque: 280Nm @ 1,350rpm (X2); 500Nm @ 1,520rpm (X3)
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic (X2); Eight-speed automatic (X3)
Fuel consumption, combined: 5.7L / 100km (X2); 8.3L / 100km (X3)
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Canada
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if you go
Titanium Escrow profile
Started: December 2016
Founder: Ibrahim Kamalmaz
Based: UAE
Sector: Finance / legal
Size: 3 employees, pre-revenue
Stage: Early stage
Investors: Founder's friends and Family
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What are the main cyber security threats?
Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
%E2%80%98FSO%20Safer%E2%80%99%20-%20a%20ticking%20bomb
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