Afghans inspect damaged shops after fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security forces in the city of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan
Taliban fighters captured most of the capital of Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan on Sunday and another neighboring provincial capital after a month-long siege. The advances were the latest in a series of attacks for government forces as US troops completed their withdrawal after nearly two decades in the country.
A video obtained by the Associated Press showed militiamen raising their flag in the main square of Kunduz city, where it was seen flying over a traffic police booth.
It was the fourth provincial capital to succumb largely to Taliban fighters in less than a week, as they made a push into Afghan territories, and launched an assassination campaign in the capital, Kabul.
Two provincial council members said the Taliban took control of the governor’s office and police headquarters after a day of shelling, as well as the main prison building, where 500 prisoners, including Taliban fighters, were freed.
The capture of Kunduz would be a significant advantage for the Taliban and would test their ability to capture and retain the region in their campaign against the Western-backed government.
It is one of the country’s largest cities with a population of over 340,000, and for years was a major area defended against Taliban takeover by Western troops.
Councilor Ghulam Rabani Rabani said fighting was on in the city’s airport and other parts of the city and it was still in government hands. Kunduz is a strategic crossroads, about 200 miles (335 km) away, with good access to northern Afghanistan as well as to Kabul.
Another provincial council member from Kunduz, Mohammad Yousuf Ayubi, also said that the Afghan army only controls the airport and main army barracks, and the Taliban controls the rest of the city.
“The innocent and poor will have to pay the price for the war in Kunduz and other parts of the country, both government forces and the Taliban are enemies of civilians,” Ayubi said. “One cannot provide security and the other does not care about people’s safety,” he said.
The Afghan government in Kabul has denied that it has lost the northern city, which will be the fourth provincial capital to be largely captured by Taliban fighters in the past week. Interior ministry spokesman Mirwais Stankzai said Afghan security forces are continuing to fight and have already withdrawn some areas from the Taliban, without elaborating.
The Taliban have long regarded the city as a desired reward. It seized Kunduz, the center of a major agricultural region near Tajikistan, for nearly two weeks in 2015 before facing a NATO-backed Afghan offensive. The rebels pushed back into the city center a year later, flying their flag briefly before slowly being driven out again.
According to a senior administration official, in Washington, senior officials from the White House National Security Council, the State Department and the Defense Department were in close contact with officials at the US Embassy in Kabul to assess the wider impact of Kunduz’s fall. Officials were not authorized to comment and spoke on condition of anonymity.
But the official indicated that the Biden administration is sticking to its plan to end the US war in Afghanistan by the end of the month, despite the Taliban’s increasingly strategic advantage.
White House officials have expressed concern in recent days over reports of retaliation against civilians in Taliban-controlled areas. They have also condemned last week’s killing of Dawa Khan Mainpal, the head of the Afghan government’s press operations for local and foreign media, and a bombing that targeted caretaker Defense Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, which killed eight people. More were injured.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday that the recent surge in attacks “contradicts the Taliban’s claim of seeking international legitimacy” and offered that terrorists “do not need to be on this trajectory.”
Two Afghan lawmakers said on Sunday Taliban forces captured Taleqan, the capital of Takhar province, which is located next to Kunduz. Takhar, a town of about 200,000, is of particular importance to anti-Taliban Northern Coalition fighters, who in 2001 joined a US-led coalition to oust religious militias.
Syed Sharfuddin Aini, a member of the Afghan parliament from Takhar province, said the Taliban managed to capture the city in the afternoon after three months of advance action, during which it captured all rural areas in the province.
Another MP from the region, Najifa Youssef Beg, said all provincial officials, including the governor, the police chief and council members, were on the run. She said she was concerned about their safety and wanted the government to send reinforcements to the city.
The two lawmakers spoke by telephone in Kabul, where they live. He said he was in contact with officials and members of the provincial council in the morning and afternoon, and Baig was appealing directly to the acting defense minister in his office.
Taleqan was under siege in recent weeks and largely cut off from the rest of the country by Taliban forces who have been in control of the surrounding countryside over the past three months.
The rebels have launched a nationwide offensive that has intensified as US and NATO troops begin to wrap up their withdrawal from the country this summer. With Taliban attacks increasing, Afghan security forces and government troops have retaliated with airstrikes aided by the United States. The fighting has raised concerns about civilian casualties.
Taliban fighters crossed nine of the province’s 10 districts on Saturday and entered the capital of northern Jazzan province. Many of the country’s 34 provincial capitals are under threat as Taliban fighters penetrate large areas of Afghanistan with astonishing speed.
Earlier last week, his fighters captured nine of the 10 police districts of Lashkar Gah, the capital of southern Helmand province. Heavy fighting continues there, as have US and Afghan government airstrikes, including damage to a health clinic and high school.
The Defense Ministry confirmed the airstrikes, but said they targeted Taliban positions, killing 54 fighters and wounding 23 others. It made no mention of the bombing of any clinic or school in its statement. Majid Akhund, the chairman of the sub-provincial council, said the attack was carried out at facilities under Taliban control.
As they passed through provincial capitals, the Taliban issued an English-language statement on Sunday saying residents, government employees and security officials had nothing to fear from them.
“Any former civil servant and other government employee, including those working in the security sector, should have no fear of the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate or flee to other places,” the statement said.
However, there have now been reports of retaliation attacks and oppressive behavior of women in areas controlled by the Taliban.
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