NATO spokesman Colonel Brian Tribus said the strike was done "to eliminate a threat to coalition and Afghan forces" around Kunduz.
Monday’s Taliban offensive was the first time the insurgents had captured a major city since being ousted from power in 2001, drawing alarm and condemnation from Afghan and U.N. officials.
An Afghan health ministry spokesman, Wahidullah Mayar, posted Tuesday on Twitter that hospitals in Kunduz had received 16 dead bodies and 172 injured people since the fighting began.
Also Tuesday, an Afghan Taliban spokesman claimed its fighters made fresh territorial gains, overrunning two districts (Ishkamish and Yangi Qala) in neighboring Takhar province.
Effort to Take Back City
General Murad Ali Murad, the deputy chief of army staff, told a late night news conference in Kabul that military reinforcements have arrived in the area and surrounded the city.
Monday’s fighting left dozens of Afghan security personnel dead or wounded before others abandoned the provincial capital. The general defended withdrawal of security forces as a “tactical” move, claiming the government remains in control of the rest of the districts in the province.
"A major problem facing military forces was that they could not storm the city for fear of causing civilian casualties and damage to their property," the general said, adding Taliban insurgents have entrenched themselves in residential areas of Kunduz.
Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said during an address late Monday at the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York that some of the attackers had come from abroad. He called on Pakistan to live up to a promise to crack down on known terror groups.
"We also call on regional stakeholders and our international partners to realize the gravity of the situation, and use their good offices or any effective means to support our aspirations for a genuine and durable confidence-building peace process leading to talks with willing Taliban and other armed opposition groups," he said.
Through his spokesman, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack and stressed the need for "a peaceful settlement of differences" in Afghanistan..............http://www.voanews.com/content/afghan-forces-regroup-outside-kunduz-after-taliban-takeover/2983673.html
29/9/15
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U.S. launches more airstrikes as Afghan troops move to retake Kunduz...
ReplyDeleteU.S. airstrikes hit Taliban positions overnight around a key northern city seized by insurgents this week as Afghan troops massed on the ground Wednesday ahead of what is likely to be a protracted battle to retake Kunduz.
Also overnight, fierce fighting was underway for control of Kunduz's airport, a few kilometres outside the city, before the Taliban retreated under fire, several residents said.
U.S. Army spokesman, Col. Brian Tribus, said there were two new airstrikes and that U.S. and NATO coalition advisers were at the scene "in the Kunduz area, advising Afghan security forces."......AP...........ctvnews.ca