Taliban claim victory in rebel region that had been holding out against its rule

The Taliban is claiming it has defeated resistance fighters in the final part of Afghanistan not already under its control.

Panjshir Valley, north of Kabul, had been holding out against the Islamist group since it seized control of the country last month.

But thousands of Taliban fighters entered eight districts of the province overnight, according to witnesses from the area. They spoke on condition of anonymity fearing for their safety.

A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, issued a statement on Monday, saying Panjshir was now under the control of its fighters.

‘With this victory, our country is completely taken out of the quagmire of war,’ he said.

An image posted on social media by the Taliban showed its fighters at the governor’s office of Panjshir province.

The rebels, calling themselves the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, had been led by the country’s former vice president and the son of the iconic anti-Taliban fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud who was killed just days before the September 11 attacks in the United States.

They have denied the Taliban’s claims, tweeting: ‘The NRF forces are present in all strategic positions across the valley to continue the fight. We assure the ppl of Afghanistan that the struggle against the Taliban & their partners will continue until justice & freedom prevails.’

Panjshir Valley has just a single narrow entrance and local fighters famously held off the Soviets there in the 1980s and also during the Taliban’s first rule in the 1990s.

Scores of families were reportedly fleeing into the mountains ahead of the Taliban’s arrival but Mujahid sought to assure residents they would be safe.

‘We give full confidence to the honorable people of Panjshir that they will not be subjected to any discrimination, that all are our brothers, and that we will serve a country and a common goal,’ he said in his statement.

There had been heavy fighting in Panjshir over the weekend as the Taliban attempted to snuff out the resistance before finalising its plans to form a government in Afghanistan.

NRF fighters acknowledged suffering major battlefield losses and called for a ceasefire.

The group said its spokesman Fahim Dashty – a well-known Afghan journalist – and General Abdul Wudod Zara, a prominent military commander, had been killed in the latest fighting.

The Taliban are yet to finalise their new regime after rolling into Kabul three weeks ago at a speed that surprised even the hardline Islamists themselves.

Afghanistan’s new rulers have pledged to be more ‘inclusive’ than during their first stint in power.

But fighters violently shut down a women’s rights protest on Sunday and there have been several reports of the group attacking its opponents.

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