Afghanistan’s acting president Amrullah Saleh has written to the United Nations on the humanitarian crisis in the  northeastern province of Panjshir, where resistance forces have held the fort, seeking aid from national and international agencies to end the “war crimes” committed by the Taliban.

“We call on the United Nations and the international community to do its utmost to prevent the Taliban’s onslaught into Panjshir province and encourage, negotiate a political solution to ensure thousands of displaced and hosting civilians are saved,” Saleh said.

“Around 250,000 two hundred and fifty thousand people including local women, children, elderly and 10,000 ten thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who arrived in Panjshir after the fall Kabul and other large cities are also stuck inside these valleys and suffering from the consequences this inhuman blocked.”

Saleh said that “if no attention is paid to this situation, a full-scale human rights and humanitarian catastrophe including starvation and mass killing, even genocide of these people are in the making.”

“The internally displaced persons and locals displaced by the Taliban onslaught are currently staying in mosques, schools, health centers, and in open spaces under the naked sky,” he added.

He further highlighted the urgent need for food, water, and sanitation to prevent the crisis. “They urgently need food, shelter, water and sanitation, health care and non-food items. Office of the Acting President Amrullah Saleh appeals to the international community, the United Nations, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movements, NGOs and other charity organizations to rapidly and generously respond to this overwhelming humanitarian crisis.”

Meanwhile, about 600 Taliban have been killed in Panjshir and more than 1,000 were captured or surrendered themselves, the resistance forces’ spokesperson Fahim Dashti tweeted.