Afghan forces recapture key district from Taliban
KABUL: Afghan government forces regained control of a key district near the northern city of Kunduz on Tuesday, after Taliban fighters had threatened to capture a provincial capital for the first time since being driven from power in 2001.
Tuesday’s victory came despite signs that the Islamist militant movement was stepping up its offensive in the broader war, six months after most foreign troops left the country.
A day earlier, a Taliban car bomber and six gunmen launched a spectacular attack on the Afghan parliament in Kabul. All of the assailants were killed.
One civilian also died and at least 30 people were wounded.
The violence in Kabul, Kunduz provincetothenorthandelsewhere has put Afghanistan’s security forces under more pressure than at any time since most Nato combat troops withdrew, and there appears to be no easy way out of the crisis.
“The war continues to gain intensity,” said Graeme Smith, a veteran Afghan analyst at International Crisis Group.
“Even more concerning, the nature of the attacks is becoming more serious: rather than potshots at convoys, we’re now talking about battles that last for days.”
On the front lines just outside Kunduz city in the north, Afghan army and police drove the Taliban back from Chardara district, which the insurgents had captured two days before, provincial police chief Abdul Saboor Nasrati said.
“New reinforcements arrived in Kunduz from northern provinces. They have inflicted heavy casualties on the insurgents and pushed them back from Chardara district,” Nasrati said.
“We are pursuing them and the gun battle is still ongoing.”
The brief capture of Chardara brought fighting to a bridge just three kilometres away from the Kunduz governor’s compound, raising fears that the insurgents could overrun the city centre. — Reuters