“All mujahideen (Taliban fighters) after taking over military targets and finishing the military operation should put their attention on keeping the lives, wealth and dignity of common people safe”.
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Our reporter said there was no electricity in the city on Wednesday, food was in short supply and that the price of bread had doubled from 10 Afghanis to 20 Afghanis overnight.
KABUL-The Taliban seized control of a hill overlooking Kunduz on Wednesday, tightening its grip on the northern Afghan city and leaving all but the local airport in the hands of government soldiers.
Despite assurances by the Afghan government that progress was being made in Kunduz, the lack of reinforcements and the Taliban’s aggressive tactics point to a potentially long and bloody fight.
“The Taliban were attacking from several directions and we did not know what to do”, Kunduz deputy governor Abdullah Danishy said. “An Afghan security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that American forces had sought to resupply a group of beleaguered Afghan soldiers trapped in an ancient fortress north of the city”. In addition, the United Nations has received reports that up to 6,000 civilians have fled the city due to the fighting.
The incursion came after two failed attempts this year to capture Kunduz city, which has been encircled by the fighters for about a year. Afghan Army, the northern Kunduz s work to do, although a southerly surge Taliban s set up barricades on the road and are forced to move towards the Baghlan province because of mine laying.
Wahidullah Mayar, a spokesman for the Public Health Ministry, said on Twitter that 30 people had been killed and more than 200 injured in Kunduz fighting.
Angry lawmakers in Afghanistan’s lower house of parliament called Wednesday for an investigation and accuse the government of failing to prevent the attack on Kunduz despite knowing the Taliban was nearby.
He said people from outside of Kunduz “think that 3,000 police are enough for a province with six administrative districts”.
“No one wants to go outside now, because we are scared of the bombardment”, he said, referring to expected fighting as government forces try to dislodge the insurgents from neighborhoods.
Kunduz province has seen a number of attacks since April, with the Taliban joining forces with other insurgents.
“The reports of extrajudicial executions, including of healthcare workers, abductions, denial of medical care and restrictions on movement out of the city are particularly disturbing”, UNAMA chief Nicholas Haysom said.
That effort has been the main thrust of Washington’s exit strategy from Afghanistan, almost 14 years after the United States led a military campaign to drive the Taliban’s hardline Islamist regime from power for harbouring the al Qaeda network.
In the city, Sayed Sarwar Hussaini, a spokesman for the police chief in Kunduz, said Afghan security forces had regained control of Kunduz’s police headquarters late Tuesday night.
The Afghan security official said the militants had slowly infiltrated Kunduz during the recent Eid festival, launching a Trojan horse attack that enabled them to capture the city within hours.
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The Afghan government lost control of Kunduz on Monday, the first time the Taliban have taken over a provincial capital since 2001.
