Fresh fighting was reported on Saturday (Sep 4) between the Taliban and resistance forces in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley, even as the hardline Islamists finalise a new government that will set the tone for their rule.

Facing the challenge of morphing from insurgents into rulers, the Taliban appear determined to snuff out the Panjshir resistance before announcing who will lead the country in the aftermath of Monday's United States troop withdrawal, which was supposed to end two decades of war.

But Panjshir, which held out for nearly a decade against the Soviet Union's occupation and also the Taliban's first rule from 1996 to 2001, is stubbornly holding out.

Fighters from the so-called National Resistance Front (NRF) - made up of anti-Taliban militia and former Afghan security forces - are understood to have stockpiled a significant armoury in the valley, around 80km north of Kabul and guarded by a narrow gorge.