The National Resistance Front (NRF), also called the Northern Alliance as a throwback to their anti Taliban roots, have already been in skirmishes with Taliban fighters in neighboring Baghlan province and are building defensive positions in the Panjshir Valley as the Taliban surround it.

Ahmad Massoud, son of the"Lion of Panjshir" Ahmad Shah Massoud, stated that he is open to discussions with the Taliban on the grounds that they will share power with the other ethnic groups in Afghanistan. However, power sharing isn't something the Taliban will likely humor, as they have proven to take a Pashtun-exclusive stance in their modus operandi. In fact, the success of the Islamic State's Khorasan Province (IS-KP) establishment in Afghanistan was largely attributed to the Taliban's exclusivity and persecution of those not of the Pashtun ethnicity.

It has been reported that thousands of disbanded Afghan National Army (ANA) troops, many of whose commanders surrendered their units to the Taliban, have travelled to Panjshir to join the NRF. Additional reports suggest the Taliban has relocated forces from Kunduz to surround the Panjshir Valley.

One thing to keep in mind regarding ongoing news of the Taliban and NRF standoff is the plethora of misinformation. Unlike Kabul city, the remoteness of Panjshir decreases the frequency and quality of digital communication. The lack of readily available and verifiable information will be replaced with rumors, old videos reuploaded and presented as new, and flat out false information. Just days ago, a rumor swirled that Massoud had sworn allegiance to the Taliban, which turned out to be a hoax.