The troops of defending Taliban in North Afghanistan said they had taken three districts close to the Panjshir valley where the remnants of government forces and other militia groups had gathered.
Defense Minister in Ghani General Bismillah Mohammadi, who had vowed to fight the Taliban, said in a tweet that Deh Saleh Regency, Bano and Pul-Hesar in the neighboring province of Baghlan had been taken.
It was not clear that what strength was involved but the incident added to the indication of the default to the Taliban which swept power in the lightning campaign that saw them took all the main cities of Afghanistan in a week.
Local television station Tolo News quoted a local police commander who said the Bano District in Baghlan was under the control of local militia troops and said there were severe victims.
Taliban have not commented on the incident.
Former Vice President Amrullah Saleh and Ahmad Massoud, son of the former anti-Soviet commander Mujahidin Ahmad Shah Massoud, has vowed to fight the Taliban from Panjshir, who deactivated the Soviet and Taliban forces in the 1980s and 1990s.
People close to Massoud said that more than 6,000 fighters, consisting of the remnants of soldiers and special forces units and local militia groups had gathered in the valley.
They said they had several helicopters and military vehicles and had fix several armored vehicles left by the Soviets.
It seems that there is no connection between groups in Panjshir and demonstrations that appear to be uncoordinated in several eastern cities and the capital of Kabul where protesters raised red and black red colors from Afghan flags.
But they underlined the problems that might face the Taliban when they began consolidating their fast victory.
The Taliban has not so far tried to enter Panjshir, which is still decorated with the rubble of Soviet armored vehicles destroyed in the battle of more than 30 years ago.
But Western diplomats and others have revealed skeptics about the ability of groups gathered there to lead effective resistance given the lack of external support and the need to repair and maintain weapons.
The Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, left after 15,000 troops were killed and tens of thousands of people were injured.
Anti-Taliban forces said they had taken three districts in the north of Afghanistan
