KABUL, Afghanistan—The Taliban captured the strategic northern Afghan city of Kunduz on Monday, Sept 28, in a multipronged attack involving hundreds of insurgents, the first time the group has seized a major urban area since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
The fast-moving assault took military and intelligence agencies by surprise as the insurgents descended on the city, one of Afghanistan’s richest and the target of repeated Taliban offensives as the extremists spread their fight across the country following the withdrawal last year of U.S. and NATO combat troops.
Within 12 hours of launching the offensive around 3 a.m., the extremists had reached the main square, tearing down photographs of President Ashraf Ghani and other leaders and raising the white flag of the Taliban movement, residents reported.
More than 600 prisoners, including 140 Taliban inmates, were released from the city’s jail, and many people were trying to reach the airport to flee the city.
