Afghanistan's last bastion against the Taliban is being led by the British-educated son of a legendary freedom fighter in the Panjshir Valley, a strategic fortress which sits high over Kabul that was never conquered by the Soviets.
The Taliban claims they're sending hundreds of fighters and have the Panjshir surrounded. One hundred miles north of the capital, it is the last the country's 34 provinces yet to fall to the jihadists.
Ahmad Massoud, a King's College London graduate and son of 'the Lion of the Panjshir', has vowed that no Taliban fighter will pass through the narrow gorge into the valley.
Massoud was only 12 when his father, Ahmad Shah Massoud, was murdered by Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network.
Forced to leave his homeland, he went to secondary school in Iran before taking his degree in War Studies at the prestigious London university.
An apt choice of degree for a man whose father was a formidable guerrilla fighter, nicknamed the 'Afghan Napoleon,' Ahmad Shah Massoud defended the Panjshir from everything the Soviets could throw at it during the 1980s.
The river valley which runs for miles is accessed only via narrow approaches, making it ideal for ambushes and sudden assaults.
The Soviets launched seven major offensives in as many years, deploying the best military hardware of the day, including heavy bombers, tanks and artillery, yet none could conquer the valley.
Ahmad Massoud (left), leader of the Northern Alliance and son of 'the Lion of the Panjshir', says that no Taliban fighter has yet dared to enter the narrow gorge into the valley. Massoud was only 12 when his father, Ahmad Shah Massoud (right), was murdered by Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network.
PANJSHIR VALLEY: The valley lies around 100 miles north of Kabul, overlooked by the Hindu Kush mountains and with narrow approaches ideally suited for ambushes, the river valley stretches for miles, opening into broad meadows where its 170,000 people live
The Northern Alliance prepare to defend the Panjshir against the Taliban on Sunday
The Northern Alliance posted this photo on Monday claiming that a helicopter from Tajikistan had airdropped supplies and munitions to the valley
Now Massoud the younger is similarly outgunned and outnumbered by the Taliban but has vowed to fight on to the last and defend the 170,000 residents of the Panjshir, most of them ethnic Tajiks.
The Taliban on Monday claimed to have retaken three districts seized by rebels the day before and said they had the Panjshir surrounded.
But, Massoud's militia claims that all of the jihadists' efforts have been rebuffed so far and that it is taking
