Afghan security forces are struggling in
their attempt to wrest the major city of Kunduz back from Taliban militants.
The government lost control of Kunduz on
Monday, the first time the
Taliban have taken over a provincial capital since 2001.
As the fighting rages, civilians are
stuck in the middle.
Doctors Without Borders said its trauma
hospital in Kunduz has been overwhelmed with patients. The aid organization
reported that its doctors treated at least 171 wounded people, including 46
children, in the first 36 hours of the fighting.
"The majority of patients had
sustained gunshot wounds, and surgeons have been treating severe abdominal,
limb and head injuries," Doctors Without Borders said in a statement.
Anticipating more casualties, the organization is rushing medical supplies by
road and air to the embattled city.
"We don't know what to do and where
to go," a male resident of Kunduz told CNN by phone Wednesday. He spoke on
condition of anonymity, fearing retribution.
He said shrapnel had struck his hand
after he was accidentally caught in a firefight between government and Taliban
forces.
"I was near the main roundabout of
Kunduz when the fight between government forces and the Taliban became intense
and the Taliban fighters were firing back meters away from me," the man
said.
"I was running to get to a safe
place when shrapnel hit my hand I was wounded."
The man said shops are closed, there is
a citywide power blackout, and it is becoming difficult to find food.
"Kunduz has turned into a ghost
city," he said.
The effort to retake the strategically
important city began Tuesday, but
it is being hindered by a shortage of ground troops, said Sayed Sarwar
Hussaini, a spokesman for the police chief of Kunduz province.
Hundreds of reinforcements that were
supposed to arrive in Kunduz are still stuck in neighboring Baghlan province,
where the Taliban have blocked the highway, he said Wednesday.
Taliban claim advances on airport
The picture of
events on the ground in Kunduz remained fuzzy, with each side claiming to have
inflicted heavy damage on the other.
Airstrikes by the Afghan military and
the U.S.-led coalition have killed more than 100 Taliban insurgents, including
the group's top commander in the province, Hussaini said. The Taliban denied
that the commander was dead and said he would release an audio message.
But the bombardment from the sky hasn't
translated into clear gains on the ground.
Hussaini acknowledged that government
forces had to pull back from the police chief's compound in the city Tuesday
evening after having retaken it earlier in the day.
He said Afghan security forces were in
Kunduz airport and other city areas Wednesday.
The Taliban said in an email that they had
surrounded the Kunduz airport area and were advancing toward the airport
itself.
'Obviously, this is a setback'
The U.S.-led
coalition ended its combat mission in Afghanistan last year, handing over the
lead to Afghan forces while remaining in a training and assistance role.
"Obviously, this is a setback for
the Afghan security forces," Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said of the
fall of Kunduz. "But we've seen them respond in recent weeks and months to
the challenges they face, and they're doing the same thing in Kunduz right
now."
In addition to the U.S. airstrikes, the
NATO-led international mission in Afghanistan said there were "limited
coalition forces in the Kunduz area advising and assisting" Afghan
security forces.
"We've seen U.S. aircraft
supporting the Afghan government and the Afghan security forces because they
can't do it alone just yet," said Mark Hertling, a retired U.S. Army
general. "You're also going to see U.S. special forces -- special
operating forces -- supporting the commandos in Afghanistan as they attempt to
reinforce Kunduz."
U.S. and German forces regularly operate
in the area, advising Afghan forces.
Thousands reportedly flee violence
The fierce
fighting in a major population center has caused a high number of civilian
casualties.
A public health official in Kunduz
reported that 16 people had been killed and more than 150 wounded, according to
journalist Sune Engel Rasmussen in Kabul.
As many as 6,000 civilians are reported
to have fled the city because of the violence, the United Nations said
Wednesday.
"I am deeply concerned about the
situation in Kunduz following the Taliban's attack on the city," said
Nicholas Haysom, the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan. "The
reports of extrajudicial executions, including of healthcare workers,
abductions, denial of medical care and restrictions on movement out of the city
are particularly disturbing."
Insurgents accused of using human
shields
It's unclear how
many casualties the Afghan security forces have suffered in the city.
Acting Defense Minister Masoom Stanekzai
said Tuesday afternoon that 17 Afghan troops had been killed and 18 more
wounded in fighting across Afghanistan in the previous 24 hours. But he didn't
provide a toll specifically for Kunduz.
President Ashraf
Ghani accused the
Taliban of using civilians as human shields.
"The Afghan government is a
responsible government, so it cannot carry out airstrikes on a city and on the
houses of its people," he said.
Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah
told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that initial reports suggest the Taliban were
able to infiltrate, rather than fight their way into, the city.
The militants released hundreds of
inmates from a prison in the city as they overran Afghan forces.
On Wednesday, Ghani's office announced
that he has appointed Hamdullah Daneshi as Kunduz province's acting governor.
But will such shuffling make a
difference on the ground? Can Afghanistan's government -- especially without
the same level of active coalition military backing -- not only retake Kunduz,
but fend off future assaults elsewhere?
Final answers are still a long way away.
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