Resistance leaders Massoud, Saleh still in Afghanistan, diplomat says

Afghan ambassador to Tajikistan Mohammad Zahir Aghbar attends a news conference at the embassy in Dushanbe, Tajikistan September 8, 2021. The portraits show former Mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, Vice President Amrullah Saleh and King Amanullah Khan. REUTERS/Didor Sadulloev

DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Panjshiri leader Ahmad Shah Massoud and former Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh have not fled Afghanistan and their resistance forces are still fighting the Taliban, the ousted Afghan government's ambassador to Tajikistan said on Wednesday.

Zahir Aghbar, envoy to Dushanbe under the government of ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, told a news conference in Tajikistan's capital that he was in regular contact with Saleh and that the resistance leaders were out of general communication for security reasons.