PANJSHIR, AFGHANISTAN – SEPTEMBER 03: The Taliban forces on Friday evening (Sep. 3) clashed with resistance fighters in Panjshir valley more than two weeks after the Taliban took over Kabul.
Both sides have claimed territorial gains and inflicting heavy casualties.
The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan on Aug. 15, forcing former President Ashraf Ghani and other top officials to leave the country.
The Panjshir Valley in the north is the only territory not under the Taliban’s control.
Negotiations have so far failed and there are conflicting reports on clashes.
Home to the country’s largest ethnic Tajik population, Panjshir was defended by commander Ahmad Shah Massoud during the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s.
His son Ahmad Massoud, and Bismillah Mohammedi, the defense minister in Ghani’s Cabinet, are now leading the resistance against the Taliban.