The Taliban say it has key access to the Panjshir Valley, local opposition denies it - as both claim heavy losses on the other side

The Taliban have claimed that its fighters seized a key position at the entrance to the Panjshir Valley - the only Afghan province still under the group’s control. Local opposition has denied the Taliban has made progress.

The Taliban launched a major operation to occupy the Panjshir Valley on Thursday after negotiations with the local resistance movement failed, according to spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. He said Taliban fighters entered the province and got eleven “important” positions along the main road leading to the eastern province of Badakhshan. Among them was the town of Shattal in the Parwan province, at the southwestern entrance to the valley.

However, representatives of the National Resistance Front (NRF) denied that the Taliban had made progress in the valley, claiming that they still had full control over all the passages leading into Panjshir. The Taliban “many” attempts to enter the area were thwarted, the militia claimed.

“They did not succeed in their offensive and they did not advance another kilometer," said Fahim Dashti, a spokesman for the NRF.

Both sides claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on their enemies, but the allegations were impossible to verify independently.

The Taliban’s Mujahid said the fighting started after negotiations with the Panjshir militia failed. According to some reports, the Taliban was ready to accept any governor the local militias would point to, but demanded that flags from “Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan” be raised above the valley - something the NRF refused to do.

According to Amrullah Saleh, who is now styling herself “Acting President” in Afghanistan, the flags of the Islamic Republic -the former, US-backed government- still flying in Panjshir.

Saleh was the deputy to Ashraf Ghani, the NATO-backed president who fled the country on August 14 when the Taliban handed Kabul over, triggering the insane confusion of the U.S.-organized air lift.

Opposition between the Taliban and Panjshir has been stronger since then. On August 31, at least eight Taliban fighters were reported killed as they tried to move to NRF positions. The Taliban did not comment on the losses at the time, as the group, in contrast, was still seeking a negotiated solution to the conflict with the militias.

Last week, it was reported that local militias in the northern Baghlan province had deployed Taliban members from three districts, only to have one corrected shortly after. The Taliban now claim to have corrected all three.

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