NDTV TOP STORIES
1. The Taliban were in position near the Panjshir valley and had retaken three districts in northern Afghanistan that fell to local militia groups last week, a spokesman says, though there were no confirmed reports of further fighting. The districts of Bano, Deh Saleh, Pul e-Hesar in the northern province of Baghlan were taken by local militia groups last week in one of the first signs of armed resistance to the Taliban since their seizure of the capital Kabul on August 15. 2. Afghanistan's 'acting' President Amrullah Sale says, 'Talibs aren't allowing food and fuel to get into Andarab valley. The humanitarian situation is dire. Thousands of women and children have fled to the mountains. Since the last two days Talibs abduct children and elderly and use them as shields to move around or do house search.' 3. Ahmad Wali Massoud, the brother of the legendary Afghan leader Ahmed Shah Massoud tells NDTV that the resistance forces received a lot of help from India in the past but after 2001, India supported 'the burglar' Ashraf Ghani. 4. One of Jammu and Kashmir's most wanted terrorists is killed in Srinagar in a Bollywood-style operation by the police. Abbas Sheikh, a top commander of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, is shot dead, along with an associate, by 10 undercover cops in the Aloochi Bagh area in the heart of the Union Territory's capital. 5. Maharashtra records 27 new cases of the Delta Plus COVID-19 variant, taking the total number of Delta Plus cases in the state to 103, according to the state health department. 6. The government will only monetise under-utilised assets and the ownership will remain with the centre, the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman says while unveiling the Rs 6 lakh crore National Monetisation Pipeline. Infra assets worth Rs 6 lakh crore will be monetised across the rail, road and power sectors over 4 years and 'projects have been identified to monetise the assets' NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant highlights.
