Defections from the Taliban begin

With mounting resistance successes against the Taliban, many regional militias that had previously declared for the Taliban out of an understandable desire for self-preservation are reconsidering their alignment. In Badakhshan, 170 militiamen and their commander have defected from nominal Taliban allegiance to the resistance’s cause. Control of Badakhshan, the northernmost province of Afghanistan and a key land connection between Panjshir and Tajikistan and China, is of great logistical importance, and the splintering of Taliban forces there is a major boon to the National Resistance Front’s prospects.