Afghan commandos have repelled a Taliban attack on Kunduz after the terrorists briefly took control of the northern city\u2019s center.<\/p>\n
“Government controls Kunduz City and Afghan security forces are in control of the main square with additional troops coming,” said NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan on Monday.<\/p>\n
Afghan special forces and government helicopters were brought in earlier in the day to back up local forces who were battling the militants.<\/p>\n
“The city center is now in our hands and not in their hands. We are launching an attack to clean up the area,\u201d said Kunduz police chief Kassim Jangal Bagh.<\/p>\n
Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis also noted that the militant attack had been repelled, adding that the US had carried out several airstrikes in support of Afghan forces.<\/p>\n
“The situation there remains fluid, we are continuing to watch it closely and to work with our Afghan partners,” he said.<\/p>\n
In the early hours of Monday morning, Taliban militants reached\u00a0the center of the Kunduz following fierce clashes with government forces.<\/p>\n
Over the past few months, Afghan security forces have focused on foiling Taliban attacks in Helmand and Kunduz.<\/p>\n
On September 28 last year, the Taliban militant group overran Kunduz in a lightning advance. The city was the only provincial capital to have fallen into their hands since the 2001 US-led invasion.<\/p>\n
They remained in full control of the city for two days and eventually announced they were withdrawing from its outskirts on October 15.<\/p>\n
The militant group lost its grip over Afghanistan in the\u00a0US-led military invasion, but\u00a0security has not been delivered to the country despite the presence of foreign boots on Afghan soil.<\/p>\n
In July, UN monitors tallied 1,601 civilian deaths and 3,565 injuries in Afghanistan in the first half of 2016. The records, it said, showed an unprecedented rise in civilian casualties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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