‘No one is safe’ after Taliban overrun Afghan city
KABUL— A day after capturing their first major city since the 2001 U.S.led invasion, the Taliban fanned out in full force Tuesday, closing roads, throwing up checkpoints and torching government buildings as residents huddled indoors, fearful of renewed fighting as Afghan forces deployed for a counteroffensive
U.S. warplanes carried out an early- morning airstrike on Taliban positions, but government ground troops sent to try to retake Kunduz, one of Afghanistan’s wealthiest and most strategic cities, were stalled by roadblocks and ambushes, unable to move closer than about two kilometres toward their target.
ANATO officer said more airstrikes were unlikely as “all the Taliban are inside the city and so are all the people.” He spoke on condition of ano- nymity because he was not authorized to brief media on the issue.
His words suggested the fight to retake the city would involve painstaking street-by-street fighting as government forces try to avoid civilian casualties in retaking control.
“Kunduz is a ghost city now. Fear has locked people inside their homes,” said Folad Hamdad, a local freelance journalist who escaped late Monday to neighbouring Takhar province. He said Taliban gunmen were going door to door “searching for government officials, local police commanders, anyone they can think of. No one is safe.”
The fall of the city of 300,000 inhabitants is a major setback to President Ashraf Ghani, who has staked his presidency on bringing peace to Afghanistan and drawingthe Taliban into peace talks. He vowed to take Kunduz back from the insurgents.