Newspapers are reporting that the Taliban have taken the provincial capital of Kunduz. After a 3 am attack on the city, the Taliban seems to now control all the major government buildings.
After months of besieging the northern Afghan provincial capital of Kunduz, Taliban fighters for the first time seized control of significant parts of the city on Monday, officials said, sending government security forces retreating toward the airport.
The Taliban advance, coming suddenly after what had appeared to be a stalemate through the summer, put the insurgents within close reach of a military and political prize — the capture of a major Afghan city — that has eluded them since 2001.
Taliban Fighters Seize Parts of Kunduz City for First Time, New York Times
“The defense line for government is now near the airport” on the outskirts of Kunduz, said Amruddin Wali, a member of the provincial council. “The Taliban has taken key government buildings such as the police and intelligence headquarters and burned down some of them.”
Taliban storms into northern Afghan city in major blow for security forces, Washington Post
The districts around Kunduz have seen significant fighting this year and last, with the city itself being a major target in the Taliban spring offensive.
The Taliban launched their spring offensive with a major attack on Kunduz in April. They were pushed back by Afghan security forces but are believed to have regrouped and allied with other insurgents.
Taliban move to seize Kunduz in major blow to Afghan security forces, Al Jazeera
In Kunduz ... clashes between government forces and insurgents have been reported from the districts of Imam Saheb, Chahrdara, Dasht-e Archi and Qala-ye Zal, since 22 April. The start of the ‘spring offensive’ only intensified the fighting.
The 2015 Insurgency in the North: Case studies from Kunduz and Sar-e Pul provinces, Afghanistan Analysts Network
The Taliban already control huge chunks of the province's rural areas, where the majority of the population live. The insurgents have intensified their fighting in the province over the past two years.
Taliban 'seize provincial HQ' in Afghan city of Kunduz, BBC
Large numbers of civilians had fled the fighting earlier this year.
A Taliban assault that threatened to overrun a northern Afghan city involved a number of foreign fighters, officials said Saturday, a battle that saw at least 100,000 people flee their homes.
100,000 flee northern Afghan city of Kunduz in Taliban assault, Associated Press
Kunduz province has a large array of factional armed groups. The security situation has long been bad, from more than just the Taliban.
Kunduz has had the worst security environment of any province in the north for the past few years. And within this province there are several districts that are particularly notable for the intractable conflicts raging within them.
Security in Kunduz Worsening Further: The case of Khanabad, Afghanistan Analysts Network
The government had called up and "deputized" many factional militias for fighting the Taliban. This was after previous effort to disband them.
The Afghan government has enlisted hundreds of militia fighters controlled by local commanders to battle Taliban militants near the northern city of Kunduz, officials said, underlining how the armed forces are struggling to tackle the insurgency alone.
The recruitment of unofficial armed groups in Kunduz is on a larger scale than previous attempts by the government and NATO forces to recruit militias in the fight against the Taliban.
It may also signal a compromise of sorts for President Ashraf Ghani's administration, which had been trying to curb the influence of so-called "mujahideen" strongmen who held key positions in former President Hamid Karzai's government.
Stretched Afghan army falls back on militias to help defend Kunduz, Reuters
In May and June, as the Taliban had initially advanced toward the city, the Afghan government quietly authorized armed militias to help overstretched security forces. The move was controversial in a country where such groups in the past have been used to fan ethnic divisions.
Taliban storms into northern Afghan city in major blow for security forces, Washington Post
In addition to fighting the Taliban, these groups have also been fighting each other.
Commanders of these factional armed groups might show up in newspaper reporting about Kunduz, as here a rather bland sounding "Mr. Alam," telling us about the current situation.
Mr. Alam, the militia commander, who is believed to have thousands of men in his network, said that the government had called on neighboring provinces to each send 350 men as reinforcements, but few appear to have done so.
Taliban Fighters Seize Parts of Kunduz City for First Time, New York Times
Going back, Kunduz had been a northern stronghold of the Taliban, who had started in the south. It had been taken from the Taliban, by the United States and the Northern Alliance, back in November of 2001.
Political discussion of Afghanistan often speaks of symbols.
The Taliban have not taken over a provincial capital in the nearly 14 years since being ousted by the U.S.-led military invasion. That makes Kunduz, Afghanistan’s fifth-largest city, symbolically important and the province has been a focal point of the group’s recent military offensive.
Fighting rages in Afghan city of Kunduz; Taliban raises flag, Los Angeles Times
It also has symbolic significance for the Taliban as it was their former northern stronghold before their government was overthrown.
Taliban 'seize provincial HQ' in Afghan city of Kunduz, BBC
Control of Kunduz also carries symbolic value: The city was one of the last Taliban enclaves to fall during the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
Afghanistan City of Kunduz Largely Under Taliban Control, Wall Street Journal
The symbolic value of this event can hardly be exaggerated. The development epitomizes the West's failure in Afghanistan, as Kunduz was the flagship project of Germany's development aid which enjoyed the protective shield of German troops.
Opinion: A threefold triumph for the Taliban, Deutsche Welle
The taking of the northern provincial capital of Kunduz by the Taliban is certainly symbolic of
something. I'm not sure of exactly what. It will be spun in various ways.
Of one very long, awful, and complex war, where civilians have always borne the brunt of it, beyond issues of who controls what governor's palace or police station at the moment?