The Taliban and an Afghan resistance group have provided opposite accounts of the situation in the Panjshir valley northeast of Kabul, the last holdout province in Afghanistan, Reuters reported on Saturday. 

"By the grace of Allah Almighty, we are in control of the entire Afghanistan. The troublemakers have been defeated and Panjshir is now under our command," a Taliban commander told Reuters.

Mentions of the fall of Panjshir went viral on social media, while outbursts of celebratory gunfire were heard in Kabul. 

However, former Vice President Amrullah Saleh, one of the leaders of the opposition forces, said his side had not given up.

"There is no doubt we are in a difficult situation. We are under invasion by the Taliban," he said on a video clip posted to Twitter by a BBC World journalist. "We have held the ground, we have resisted."

Panjshir is the only region standing in the way of the Taliban taking complete control of the country. It is walled off by mountains, making it almost unconnected with the rest of the country. The only way to enter is through a narrow passage created by the Panjshir river, making it difficult to attack. It warded off the Soviet invasion, and the Taliban did not gain control of the valley in its previous rule. 

The region, located 150 kilometers northeast of Kabul, is now hosting some senior members of the ousted government. Several other resistance leaders also dismissed reports of the fall of Panjshir, where thousands of fighters from regional militias and remnants of the old government's forces had massed.

"News of Panjshir conquests is circulating on Pakistani media. This is a lie," said Ahmad Massoud, who is leading the forces.

Son of famous resistance leader Ahmad Shah who was assassinated by suspected al-Qaeda militants in 2001, Massoud has sought outside support.

"I write from the Panjshir Valley today, ready to follow in my father's footsteps, with mujahideen fighters who are prepared to once again take on the Taliban," he wrote in an op-ed carried by The Washington Post in mid-August, when the Taliban had just taken over Kabul.