Taliban say they have entered final holdout region

The Taliban are claiming that they have entered the last holdout region in Afghanistan, the Panjshir Valley, as the insurgent group works to tighten their grip on the country following the departure of U.S. troops.

The Taliban posted a video on Saturday that depicted what they claimed to be their fighters on a mountainside road in Panjshir, according to The Wall Street Journal.

It was not clear where and when the video — which showed the supposed fighters in seized U.S. Humvees — was filmed, the Journal noted.

A resistance supporter confirmed that the Taliban had penetrated Panjshir from both the south and the north, according to the newspaper

Emergency, a nongovernmental organization based in Italy, reportedly said the Taliban had made it to the village of Anabah, Panjshir, where the group has a medical center set up. It said it was seeing a small number of injured individuals at the facility.

Officially, however, the rebels have denied that the insurgent group made such advances, the Journal reported.

Fighting has broken out in the Panjshir Valley in recent days as the Taliban works to seize control of the final holdout region amid continued talks on forming a new government in Afghanistan.

Both the Taliban and rebel fighters claimed to have inflicted heavy losses during recent clashes in the region.

The reported breach of the Panjshir Valley comes as Secretary of  State Antony Blinken is scheduled to travel to Doha, Qatar on Sunday to meet with Qatari leaders and thank them for their assistance with the U.S. evacuation mission.

He will also travel to the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, another transit point for Afghan refugees.

A senior State Department official told CBS News that “there is no plan right now” for Blinken to meet with the Taliban.

The U.S. pulled its final troops from Afghanistan last week, capping off America’s longest war after 20 years of military involvement.