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Taliban Attack Afghan City as They Talk Peace With U.S. Afghan City Survives Third Taliban Assault, but Loses a Top Defender
(about 7 hours later)
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — The Taliban have launched an attack from several directions on the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, which they have occupied twice in recent years, even as the insurgents seemed close to a preliminary peace agreement with American diplomats. KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — The first two times the Taliban overran the city of Kunduz, Col. Sayed Sarwar Hussaini survived the carnage, just as he had many attacks and suicide bombings before.
Residents said on Saturday morning that heavy fighting had been underway in several corners of the city since before dawn, and that the streets were largely deserted. As the spokesman for the local police, his job was essential: The long Afghan war is increasingly fought as much on social media pages and television screens as it is on the battlefield. Colonel Hussaini, 36, would spar with the Taliban, telling a radio station that all was fine, promising a television channel that Afghan forces had repelled an assault.
Late in the day, the Taliban carried out a large bombing in the city’s symbolic main roundabout targeting the provincial security leadership. The blast occurred soon after Afghanistan’s ministers of defense and interior accompanied by Gen. Austin S. Miller, the top American commander, left Kunduz city after assuring that the attack had been repelled. On Saturday, the Taliban came for the northern city for the third time in four years, launching a pre-dawn offensive even as they continued peace talks with American diplomats. Their advances were largely stemmed by the end of the day, as Afghan commandos flooded Kunduz and airstrikes hit Taliban positions.
More than a dozen people were killed in the explosion, including some of the local security leaders. There was conflicting information on whether Col. Manzor Stanekzai, the provincial police chief who was leading the defense, had been killed or wounded. But as night fell over the battered city, Colonel Hussaini was not so lucky. He was among the roughly 30 dead on the government side, most of them security forces. At least 36 Taliban were also killed, Afghan officials said.
Although the Taliban advance seemed stemmed by airstrikes and a flood of Afghan commandos who arrived to reinforce local forces, there was no sign that the militants had retreated from the areas of the city they had entered in the early hours of the assault. Colonel Hussaini’s death was emblematic of both the sacrifices made by an Afghan force that has lost 50,000 people in the past five years alone and of the political calculation with which the Taliban have waged their violence.
Ehsanullah Fazli, the health director for Kunduz Province, said the militants took over his department’s headquarters in the city. They eventually left the building, but remained outside the headquarters and a nearby hospital. Just like the assaults on the city in 2015 and 2016, Saturday’s attack began in darkness. By dawn, residents reported heavy fighting in several neighborhoods. The streets were largely deserted.
He said five bodies and more than 70 wounded people had been brought to the hospital so far, but that the real toll in the city was probably much higher, because fighting was preventing ambulances from leaving the hospital to pick up the wounded. Rohullah Ahmadzai, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense, said hundreds of Taliban had attacked Kunduz from three directions. “Our forces are moving with caution in their operations,” he said, “so they don’t cause civilian casualties.”
Security officials acknowledged that Afghan forces were fighting off assaults in at least three parts of the city, with at least two police precinct offices taking fire from the Taliban. Kunduz residents, surprised by the attacks, rushed to stock food and essentials.
“Hundreds of Taliban have attacked Kunduz city from three directions, and their assault has been fended off by our security and defense forces,” said Rohullah Ahmadzai, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense. “With each rocket, our windows would shake,” said Rahmatullah Rahimi, 52, who sells firewood. “Neither I nor our neighbors have slept all night. How can you sleep with the sound of fighting? We are trying to see whether we should flee or stay.”
“The enemy, in a cowardly way, has taken up position in civilian areas. Our forces are moving with caution in their operations so they don’t cause civilian casualties.” Security officials acknowledged that the Taliban had overrun several outposts. But quickly it became clear that the fight would be as much for the headlines, with both sides trying to flood the media with images in a bid to gain leverage in the peace talks.
Afghan Air Force planes flew over the city and carried out several strikes on advancing Taliban positions. Officials in Kabul, the capital, said several units of special forces were on their way to Kunduz to fend off the assault. The operation was largely Afghan, with U.S. forces providing some support, one official said. The Taliban posted a video of a small group of Afghan police officials surrendering early in the day, a clear attempt to sow panic. In the video, the insurgents call out to the officers, holed up in an outpost across the street, as gunshots are heard in the background. The officers slowly emerge and hand over their weapons.
Officials in Kabul said more than 30 Taliban had been killed in the airstrikes and ground engagements, but that security forces were moving slowly, because the insurgents were using residential areas to stage their attacks. In response, the Afghan government put out videos of the provincial police chief, Col. Manzor Stanekzai, leading commando forces on the streets as heavy fighting is heard in the background. Government Twitter and Facebook accounts promoted Taliban casualties in back-to-back airstrikes. The operation was largely Afghan, but the United States military provided support.
The Taliban posted a video of a small group of Afghan police officials surrendering to them. In the video, whose authenticity could not be independently verified, the insurgents call out to the officers, holed up in an outpost across the street, as gunshots are heard in the background. The officers slowly emerge and hand over their weapons, as the Taliban tell them that nothing will happen to them. In the two earlier instances in which the Taliban swept into Kunduz city, Afghan forces relied heavily on airstrikes. During the first assault, in October 2015, American planes struck a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials, M.S.F., killing at least 42 people.
In two previous instances in which the Taliban entered Kunduz city, Afghan forces relied heavily on airstrikes. During the first assault, on Kunduz city in October 2015, American planes struck a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials, M.S.F., killing at least 42 people. The violence is intensifying at a critical time, as Taliban officials and American negotiators continue marathon talks in Doha, the Qatari capital, on a preliminary peace deal.
Kunduz residents, surprised by the attacks, rushed to stock food and basic essentials on Saturday morning, to find only a small number of shops open. Then even those shops began to close their doors. The deal is expected to set a timeline for the withdrawal of the remaining American and NATO forces in the country, and to open the path for direct negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government over the country’s political future.
“It was around 2 a.m. when we started hearing heavy firing,” said Rahmatullah Rahimi, 52, a Kunduz resident who sells firewood. “With each rocket, our windows would shake. Neither I nor our neighbors have slept all night. How can you sleep with the sound of fighting? We are trying to see whether we should flee or stay.” “I raised the Kunduz attack in talks today, telling the Taliban that violence like this must stop,” Zalmay Khalilzad, the American special envoy leading the peace efforts, said on Twitter.
The attack comes as Taliban officials and American negotiators continue marathon talks in the Qatari capital of Doha on finalizing a preliminary peace deal. Talks were expected to resume on Saturday morning. Late in the afternoon, as a way of boosting morale, the Afghan ministers of interior and defense, as well as the top American commander, Gen. Austin S. Miller, arrived in Kunduz.
The deal is expected to finalize a timeline for the withdrawal of the remaining American and NATO forces in the country, and to open the path for direct negotiations between the Taliban and the government over the political future of the country. But the violence in Afghanistan has intensified even as the talks have continued. “We are here to show that we will not let anyone overrun the city,” said Assadullah Khaled, the Afghan defense minister.
“These Taliban attacks, unfortunately, are a sign they are still not firm on peace — that they do not accept this opportunity of peace provided by the United States and the Afghan government,” said Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s president. “This is in complete contradiction with the peace process in Doha.” For much of the day, that work of projecting strength had fallen on Colonel Hussaini. He had emerged from the previous two sieges of Kunduz with a reputation for deft crisis communication. For a couple of years, he had served in a different job farther north, only to return to Kunduz, his hometown, over the summer.
Repeatedly during the day, Colonel Hussaini gave televised updates from the city’s main roundabout, assuring viewers that Afghan forces were in control. In the previous assaults on the city, the roundabout had become the symbol of control — the last point of resistance before the Taliban raised their flag.
Soon after the visiting Afghan and American security leaders left the city, Colonel Hussaini told a friend that the Taliban had spread a rumor that they had captured the roundabout. He wanted to return to the spot to dispel such talk, though it was decided that the message should come directly from the police chief, Colonel Stanekzai.
The two colonels and more than a dozen other officers — many of them part of the local security leadership — made their way to roundabout. Colonel Stanekzai had positioned himself in front of the cameras for his message of assurance when, officials said, a suicide bomber on foot walked through a cordon and detonated explosives. Bodies were scattered all around.
Colonel Hussaini, a father of four, was among at least a dozen killed in the explosion, four Afghan officials confirmed. Whether Colonel Stanekzai was wounded or killed was not immediately clear.
As night fell on another violent day in Kunduz, Afghan officials said they were confident they had repelled the Taliban assault. Still, Taliban fighters lurked on the edges of the city — without its chief defender on the streets, and its chief defender online and on the broadcast waves.