Eight Taliban fighters were killed after clashing with the opposition militia in the Panjshir valley north of the Afghan capital Kabul Monday night, a representative of the main anti-Taliban opposition group said.
Since the fall of Kabul on Aug. 15, the Panjshir has been the only province to hold out against the Taliban, although there has also been fighting in neighboring Baghlan province between Taliban and local militia forces.
Fahim Dashti, a spokesperson for the "National Resistance Forces (NRF)," a group loyal to local leader Ahmad Massoud, said the fighting occurred on the western entrance to the valley where the Taliban attacked NRF positions.
He said the attack, which may have been a probe to test the valley's defenses, was repulsed with eight Taliban killed and a similar number wounded, while two members of the NRF forces were wounded.
It was not immediately possible to reach a Taliban spokesperson for comment.
Massoud, son of the former anti-Soviet commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, has established himself in the Panjshir valley with a force of several thousand, made up of local militias and remnants of army and special forces units.
He has called for a negotiated settlement with the Taliban but has said his forces will resist if their province in the narrow and mountainous valley is attacked.
A significant force of Taliban fighters has been moved to the area but the two sides have so far been engaged in negotiations and have avoided fighting.
Celebratory gunfire resounded across Kabul Tuesday as Taliban fighters took control of Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport after the withdrawal of the last remaining United States troops, marking the end of a 20-year war that left the militia stronger than it was in 2001.
