The Taliban Have Been Driven Back From the Afghan City of Kunduz
The Taliban assault on the northeastern Afghan city of Kunduz has been repelled, according to a BBC report citing the provincial governor. The assault began with a pre-dawn raid on government offices in Kunduz Monday and came a day before the Afghan leadership was gearing up for a major international donors conference in Brussels, where Kabul is hoping to secure billions of dollars in assistance as it attempts to repel the insurgency and rebuild the country. According to the BBC, governor Asadullah Amarkhil said the Taliban had suffered a large number of casualties. Kunduz was briefly captured by the Taliban in 2015 in what was then the militant organization's biggest victory since it was ousted from government in 2001. However, Afghan security forces recaptured Kunduz from the Taliban after a few days.