Taliban Launch Another Offensive Against Key North Afghan City

Shocking everyone when it fell to the Taliban in 2015, the city of Kunduz has repeatedly been contested since then, with the Afghan government desperately trying to keep a strategically vital northern city under control.

This weekend, the battle for Kunduz started again, with Taliban forces carrying out a series of pushes from different fronts in the area, with an eye toward again seizing Kunduz. 8 have been killed, 62 wounded, and hundreds on the city’s outskirts have fled.

The Taliban claimed a much higher number of casualties inflicted than officials would admit to. This is not uncommon, but either way, the offensive is continuing and the Afghan government is likely to have to scramble reinforcements to keep the city falling once again.

Located in the far north of Afghanistan, Kunduz was for much of the war considered one of those cities most safely out of the Taliban’s sphere of influence. This is no longer the case of anywhere in Afghanistan, and with the Taliban continuing to mass gains, retaking this major city would be just another opportunity to underscore how poorly the war is going.