Taliban claim to have recaptured three districts seized by resistance in Baghlan province....

 Taliban claim to have recaptured three districts seized by resistance in Baghlan province....

The Taliban claim their fighters have recaptured the three districts in northern Afghanistan that were taken by local militia groups last week. This development comes at a time when the Taliban are also facing a challenge to their rule by forces loyal to Ahmed Massoud based in Panjshir.

A spokesperson for the Taliban claimed on Monday that the insurgent group now in control of Afghanistan had recaptured the districts .Local militias fighting the Taliban under the banner of Public's Resistance Forces led by Khair Muhammad Andarabi had seized the three districts last week.

Panjshir resistance

Our fighters have set up base in Badakhshan, Takhar and Andarab near the Panjshir valley, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a tweet on Monday.

A number of local militias and personnel of the now disbanded Afghan armed forces have joined hands to resist the Taliban. This resistance, based in the Panjshir valley, says it is in talks with Taliban to ensure the formation of an "inclusive" government in Afghanistan.

The son of anti-Soviet mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, Ahmad Massoud, told media outlets on Sunday that he does not want war but will not hold back if the Taliban continue to press further into the Panjshir valley.

File photo of Ahmad Massoud, who is leading the Panjshir resistance | Credits: AP

Massoud reiterated that Panjshir has never surrendered to anyone and will not bow down to the Taliban. A mountainous area located northwest of Kabul, the Panjshir valley had resisted the Taliban even before 2001.

In statements on Sunday, the Taliban claimed that talks with Ahmad Massoud had failed and that hundreds of Taliban fighters were headed to the Panjshir valley to challenge the anti-Taliban forces.

However, no reports of an armed conflict between them have emerged from the region as of yet.

Among the key figures of this resistance is Amrullah Saleh, the first vice president in the Ashraf Ghani administration. Saleh took to Twitter last week to claim that, as per the Afghan constitution, he is the legitimate caretaker president of Afghanistan in Ghani's absence.