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Taliban Fighters Penetrate Heart of Afghan City of Kunduz
 [WSJ] Taliban forces battled their way into the heart of Kunduz on Monday despite efforts by U.S.-backed Afghan government forces to defend the northern city against the coordinated assault, officials and residents said.The lightning offensive, which came almost a year to the day after the Islamist Lions of Islam briefly seized control of the city in a similar attack, deals a sharp blow to efforts by the government of President Ashraf Ghani  ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..to quell the 15-year insurgency and arrest the growing insecurity that has swept the country in recent months. In less than a day, many government offices in Kunduz, including the headquarters of the provincial council, fell to the bully boys, and heavy fighting was raging in many parts of the city, said Sayed Assadullah Sadat, a council member. "The Taliban have reached the city’s main square and taken control of it," Akbar Farhang, a resident, said by telephone from Kunduz. The governor’s office, along with the city’s airport and its main Afghan army base, remained in government control, Mr. Sadat and other residents said, as U.S. warplanes provided air support to Afghan troops on the ground. The U.S.-led coalition appeared unaware of a major assault just hours before the Taliban entered the city. "At this point, we are not observing evidence via our internal means to support the reports that Kunduz is under significant attack," it had said on Twitter early Monday. Some residents were fleeing as Taliban forces advanced, Mr. Sadat said, while others had locked themselves indoors in parts of Kunduz that had fallen under bully boys’ control. Human rights groups last year accused the gunnies of abuses when they were in control of the city, including summary executions of people suspected of working for the government. "The Taliban have taken the neighborhood I live in. They are in control of half of the city," said Mohammad Essa. "The children are frightened and everybody is so scared." Afghan special forces arrived in Kunduz late Monday in an effort to regain control of the city, a replay of events last year when the elite teams, backed by U.S. soldiers on the ground, fought for days to drive out the bully boys. More from Khaama: The Taliban militants group has released numerous videos earlier this evening which purportedly shows the capture of the strategic Kunduz city in north of Afghanistan. The authenticity of the videos which can not be independently verified shows the Taliban group moving towards the main square which was captured by the group last year. The group has also released several other videos which purportedly shows the militants of Taliban moving in parts of the city as they hang around the public places in the city. However the officials in the Ministry of Defense have rejected the fall of the city to Taliban as baseless. All lies! The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the Taliban militants launched an attack from the west part of the 3rd police district of the earlier today but the attack was repulsed. MoD further added that additional forces have been deployed and more troops are on the way to repulse the Taliban attack. Earlier, reports suggested that the militants of the group have started taking positions in the residential areas as they attempt to avoid airstrikes and ground operations by the Afghan forces. The Taliban group launched a coordinated attack on Kunduz city earlier today, almost a year after the group captured the control of the city and coicides with a deadly airstrike carried out on MSF hospital in the city. Posted by: Fred 2016-10-04 |
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