Fighting Scales Up in North Afghanistan, Taliban Makes Further Gains

Fighting continues to rage in northern Afghanistan, where the Taliban is contesting three provincial capitals, and has been amassing gains around those areas. In the last 24 hours, seven more districts fell to the Taliban, again mostly in the north.

The Afghan Interior Ministry downplayed the mounting Taliban gains, saying it was all temporary and predicting that the military would reclaim all that territory in short order.

Civilians have been hit hard in this fighting as well. In Kunduz alone, 28 civilians were killed and 290 others injured in just the past 48 hours. Kunduz city remains contested, and the border region has fallen.

The Taliban has contested Kunduz several times during the war, last falling in 2016. While most Taliban territory is in the south, they’ve shown an ability to contest key northern areas.