A promised counterattack by Afghan forces aimed at retaking the strategic city of Kunduz from Taliban militants collapsed early Wednesday as hundreds of soldiers and civilians reportedly fled to the city's airport, where they were surrounded by insurgent forces.
The New York Times reported that the assault on Kunduz, a city of 300,000 in northern Afghanistan, may have been just the first part of a broader offensive by the Taliban. The paper reported that several military checkpoints and government buildings in Takhar Province, east of Kunduz, had also come under attack by militants.
The Associated Press reported that Taliban fighters began fanning out across Kunduz itself Tuesday, closing roads, throwing up checkpoints and torching government buildings as fearful residents huddled indoors. Afghan forces attempting to retake the city were stalled by roadblocks and ambushes, unable to move closer than about a mile toward their target.
Meanwhile, U.S. warplanes carried out two airstrikes on Taliban positions, and a NATO officer told the AP that more airstrikes were unlikely as "all the Taliban are inside the city and so are all the people." He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief media on the issue.
His words suggested the fight to retake the city would involve painstaking street-by-street fighting as government forces try to avoid civilian casualties in retaking control. Reuters reported that Afghan forces had expressed a reluctance to use attack helicopters and heavy artillery in urban areas.
The insurgents used mosque loudspeakers to try to reassure people they were safe. But residents, recalling the group's brutality during its 1996-2001 rule of Afghanistan, were fearful of what was to come.
"Kunduz is a ghost city now, fear has locked people inside their homes," said Folad Hamdad, a local freelance journalist who escaped late Monday to neighboring Takhar province.
He said Taliban gunmen were going door to door "searching for government officials, local police commanders, anyone they can think of. No one is safe."
The fall of Kunduz, the first urban area taken by the Taliban since the U.S.-led invasion ousted their regime 14 years ago, is a major setback to President Ashraf Ghani, who has staked his presidency on bringing peace to Afghanistan and seeking to draw the Taliban to peace talks.
In a televised address, he vowed to take Kunduz back from the insurgents, urging the nation to trust Afghan troops to do the job.
"The enemy has sustained heavy casualties," he said. "The enemy's main objective was to create fear and terror."
Acting Defense Minister Masoom Stanekzai said Taliban fighters had infiltrated the city during the recent Eid holiday, the biggest of the year when millions of Afghans move around the country to spend time with family.
The insurgents were reinforced by militants who came from neighboring Pakistan after being driven out by a military offensive, as well as from China and Central Asia, Stanekzai said.
Monday's fierce multipronged assault took the Afghan military and intelligence agencies off guard after what had appeared to be a stalemate throughout the summer between Taliban forces besieging the city and government troops defending it.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/09/30/afghan-assault-to-retake-kunduz-from-taliban-collapses-as-militants-surround/?intcmp=hpbt1
