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Afghan Forces Rally in Fight to Retake Kunduz From Taliban Afghan Forces Rally in Fierce Fighting to Retake Kunduz From Taliban
(about 5 hours later)
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan government forces on Thursday rallied for the first time against Taliban fighters who had taken the city of Kunduz, engaging in heavy fighting in several places on the city’s outskirts, residents and government officials said. KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan government forces rallied on Thursday for the first time in four days against Taliban fighters who had taken the city of Kunduz, engaging in heavy fighting near the city center, residents and government officials said.
Kareema Sediqi, a member of the Kunduz provincial council, said that “the city is still in Taliban control,” but that Afghan security forces had advanced as far as a roundabout near the city’s entrance. Interviews with several residents suggested that the situation was fluid, with fighting continuing. By nightfall, however, witnesses said the battle for the city was still undecided. Residents described cowering in their homes as shrapnel flew, and the occasional mortar shell or rocket crashed down.
Ms. Sediqi, who spoke from Kabul but was in contact with family members trapped in Kunduz, said, “The Afghan security forces are struggling against strong Taliban resistance from Taliban who are wearing A.N.A. uniforms,” referring to the Afghan National Army. Despite the long-awaited response by government forces in Kunduz, it was not enough to reassure civilians in neighboring provinces, as the outlines of a potential broad Taliban offensive across northern Afghanistan became clearer.
It is a common Taliban tactic to obtain uniforms of the government security forces and use them to confuse their enemies. Some in the nearby provincial capitals — Pul-i-Kumri, in Baghlan Province south of Kunduz, and Taloqan in Takhar Province, to the west — said they were preparing to leave rather than risk being trapped in a Taliban assault.
The sudden fall of Kunduz on Monday stunned the Afghan government, which promised a quick counterattack. On Thursday, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior, Sediq Sediqqi, wrote on Twitter that Afghan special forces “now control Kunduz City,” which they may have for a short time. In Takhar, people were further unnerved by reports that a northern district of the province had fallen to the Taliban on Thursday morning. And Afghan officials from the far northeastern province of Badakhshan said on Thursday night that Warduj District had fallen to the Taliban.
He said that the city had been “retaken,” but also that it was still “being cleared” of enemy fighters. However, that claim was not supported by accounts from Kunduz residents. “People are in a state of fear here,” said Ahmad Khalid, a resident of Kunduz City who had fled to Taloqan on Thursday. He said that as he walked around the city, he kept seeing other Kunduz residents who had sought refuge. But Takhar residents were talking about getting out. “The people in Takhar are also preparing to leave. They fear this city will fall more easily than Kunduz.”
Ms. Sediqi said heavy fighting in Kunduz had started around 11 p.m. on Wednesday, when Afghan security forces entered the city. They were there for about eight or nine hours, she said, inspiring some residents to try to resume daily business on Thursday morning. The prospect of a domino effect in the country’s northeast with villages, districts and potentially another provincial capital falling under Taliban control was worrying Western military strategists as well. They believe that the longer the Taliban can stave off a decisive counteroffensive by the government, the more momentum the insurgents will gain.
But before residents had gone far from their homes, the Taliban counterattacked, wearing the uniforms of Afghan security forces, with some riding motorcycles and others driving captured Humvees and sports utility vehicles. They pushed back the Afghan forces, who remained on the city’s outskirts, according to Ms. Sediqi and some residents. In Washington, senior Pentagon and other government officials confirmed on Thursday that Kunduz had not yet been fully reclaimed from the Taliban, and expressed frustration and bewilderment at what they said was a slow and disjointed counterattack.
Naseeb, 25, a Kunduz resident reached by telephone who identified himself by only one name, said he had just returned from taking a friend to a clinic for medical treatment. His friend had been trying to open his mobile phone shop when he was struck by shrapnel as the Taliban counterattacked, Naseeb said. “The military leadership here is really frustrated with the Afghan leadership,” said one senior United States official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential intelligence and operations assessments. “They have not been able to maintain momentum.”
Saad Mukhtar, the director of public health for Kunduz, said that since the city fell, his office had recorded 49 dead and 332 wounded in local hospitals, including civilians and members of the Afghan security forces. The American official acknowledged the similarities with the sudden Islamic State offensive in northern and western Iraq last year, when the Iraqi security forces in Mosul and other areas melted away despite vastly outnumbering the attackers. “If the Afghans don’t check things really fast, it has the potential to be like Mosul,” the official said.
So far, however, American officials have ruled out sending any large number of troops to help Afghans in the north. The American official said that discussions were underway to possibly send about a dozen or so Special Operations forces to advise the Afghan security forces on the effort to retake Kunduz, and prevent the loss of any other northern cities, the official said.
By day’s end it was hard to say that either the government or the Taliban controlled Kunduz City, but the government appeared to be making headway. Whether Afghan forces would be able to hold the ground through the night unless reinforcements arrived was not clear.
To the south, a large group of Afghan soldiers who had set out days ago to help reinforce Kunduz remained mostly stuck in northern Baghlan Province, advancing painstakingly slowly as they were frequently halted by Taliban ambushes and roadblocks, officials said.
A reporter in Baghlan said the military convoy, with more than 1,000 soldiers, was proceeding several truck lengths at a time between halts.
“The Taliban blocked the Baghlan-Kunduz highway by placing sandbags on the road in several places; some of the forces crossed the roadblocks,” he said. “The reinforcements move very slowly — they send five or 10 trucks ahead and then stop when they come under fire.”
In Kunduz, the Taliban were deploying a variety of tactics, including using residential homes to hide but also wearing Afghan security force uniforms to confuse their enemies.
The sudden fall of Kunduz on Monday stunned the Afghan government, which promised a quick counterattack.
Although that effort took almost four days to materialize, in the early hours of Thursday morning, the government forces, aided by Afghan Special Operations Forces, managed to retake the center of the city, according to Kareema Sediqi, a provincial council member.
However, that success was short-lived and the Taliban counterattacked, driving the security forces back, witnesses said. Then the security forces appeared to have rallied, and there was heavy fighting off and on throughout the day.
Hundreds of civilians and members of the government forces have been holed up in the airport south of Kunduz, and reinforcements sent from other provinces have been delayed or halted by Taliban resistance in outlying areas.Hundreds of civilians and members of the government forces have been holed up in the airport south of Kunduz, and reinforcements sent from other provinces have been delayed or halted by Taliban resistance in outlying areas.
Residents reached in parts of Kunduz Province beyond the city said that the Taliban remained in control in the district of Chardara. That district is one of the most strategically important in the province because a road to the largest city in Afghanistan’s north, Mazar-i-Sharif, runs through it.Residents reached in parts of Kunduz Province beyond the city said that the Taliban remained in control in the district of Chardara. That district is one of the most strategically important in the province because a road to the largest city in Afghanistan’s north, Mazar-i-Sharif, runs through it.
The government appeared to be trying to put its best face on the situation in the city of Kunduz, reporting only the progress by its forces, not the retreats.
Mr. Sediqqi wrote on Twitter that there were “heavy enemy casualties,” but it was difficult to determine whether that was the case.