Here we go, 14 years after the war in Afghanistan, Taliban still have the strength to take over kunduz and now threatening neighbouring takhar province.
Re: Kunduz falls to Taliban
What an irony since this is where taliban fled leaving their 'volunteer / brothers' to be captured by dostum. I think it was these prisoners that were burned by flooding the basement prison with oil when they revolted after being captured. US had to look the other way as the AF GHANZ were "allies"...
Re: Kunduz falls to Taliban
No big deal, this is not the 1st but 5th city fallen to Taliban and certainly not the last....
Re: Kunduz falls to Taliban
[TABLE]
Hamid Mir (@HamidMirGEO](https://twitter.com/hamidmirgeo?refsrc=email&s=11))
30/09/2015 12:14 am
Mullah Abdul Salam Akhund was arrested by Pakistan in 2010 Hamid Karzai forced Islamabad to release him he is leading Taliban in Kunduz
Re: Kunduz falls to Taliban
and…
Taliban shadow governor for Kunduz killed in airstrike / Raha Press
Mulavi Abdul Salam Akhund Taliban shadow governor along with his deputy Zabi, Osama Haris (head of Tayabba insurgency party and who is a Pakistani national) and 15 other insurgents were killed during an airstrike coordinated by Afghan national directorate of security.
The Afghan intelligence agency said the terrorists had aimed to enter Kunduz airport compounds, but they faced heavy air response from security forces and were killed…
Re: Kunduz falls to Taliban
In fact NATO killed them, they are on ground even today to try evict Taliban from kunduz.
Re: Kunduz falls to Taliban
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan was plunged deeper into crisis a day after the Taliban seized the northern city of Kunduz, as the insurgents on Tuesday kept assaulting the reeling Afghan security forces and the government struggled to mount a credible response.
Not only did a promised government counteroffensive on Kunduz not make headway during heavy fighting on Tuesday, but the day ended with yet another aggressive Taliban advance, with insurgents surrounding the airport to which hundreds of Afghan forces and at least as many civilians had retreated, thinking it would be safe.
After more than a day of relative silence as the situation worsened around Kunduz, the American military showed the first signs of increased involvement in what the Pentagon called “a setback,” conducting at least two airstrikes, and reportedly more as attacks continued at the airport late Tuesday.
Beyond the Taliban’s gains in Kunduz, there was evidence that the insurgents were also pushing a broader offensive in northern Afghanistan, officials said. One particular point of concern was Takhar Province, just east of Kunduz, where the insurgents were said to be heavily assaulting military checkpoints and government facilities in several districts over the past two days........
Re: Kunduz falls to Taliban
After 14 years, trillions of dollars... Talibn still took over fourth largest city in Afghanistan...
time to re think the strategies... this re-emergence of taliban came after Afghan govt refused to go ahead with negotiations... or am i reading a lot between the lines
Re: Kunduz falls to Taliban
As some american soldiers off the record said, taliban fight for a purpose even if it is a higher purpose while ANA fights for checks.
There are good units and there were probably moreso in South Vietname after US withdrawal, but we know what happened when US decided to reduce aid ? One day that would happen and it would be worse since afghanistan can't afford a military 200-300% of its budget.
Re: Kunduz falls to Taliban
As some american soldiers off the record said, taliban fight for a purpose even if it is a higher purpose while ANA fights for checks.
There are good units and there were probably moreso in South Vietname after US withdrawal, but we know what happened when US decided to reduce aid ? One day that would happen and it would be worse since afghanistan can't afford a military 200-300% of its budget.
If you have to give rough estimate, for how long do you think they will be able to sustain aid to Afghan Army? I'd be surprised if it last more than 5 years, they will eventually have to start cutting it down, if not stop it all together.
Re: Kunduz falls to Taliban
It would be a hard sell if the US is not there in 2017.
From what I understand of learning from the past retreat in 1989 and especially due to the rise of ISIS, the new Marine JCS who also served in capacity at ISAF has given three proposals that keep the presence at a minimum of 10,000 troops. The original plan was to have some 1,000 or so embassy protection force (usually marines) stationed in kabul, but expect to have more troops and probably much more contractors.
You can say that afghanistan lucked out due to ISIS. At least, kabul won't fall and it keeps the neighboring countries from fighting an all-out war in a vacuum. I think that the Americans know that and also accept the fact that rural and semi-rural afghanistan would be taliban territory while at least the cities would be nominally controlled by the Ghani govt. This is the reason that america took so long to designate haqqanis as terrorists (in 2011) when talks broke down after america said that you can have eastern afghanistan, but accept / leave the fighting against the center. Haqqanis were like we already control eastern afghanistan, so what exactly is america offering us?
I was reading comments on NYT and people were actually praising ANA for at least doing a counter-offensive unlike the 'cut and run' iraqi army. Unlike Iraq, US can use article 5 & 6 of NATO to get europe to pony up troops and money. I think that the germans left, but kunduz was in the german zone of operations for a decade.
Re: Kunduz falls to Taliban
According to afghan ministry of interior the afghan army has got the control of the city back. Interestingly this article mentions that Turkmen, Uzbeks, Tajiks and even hazaras have joined Taliban in recent times.