Taliban Militants, Afghan Security Forces Continue Face-Off

The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan’s embattled northern Kunduz province has worsened as fighting between Taliban militants and Afghan security forces entered its fourth day, a media report said.
According to a provincial council member from Kunduz, Zar Gul Alimi, there is no water, no electricity, shortage of food and the price for a piece of bread has increased.
Insurgents launched a coordinated attack on Monday on the northern city, which they briefly held a year ago before being driven out by Afghan-led forces.
The Afghan government said security forces have cleared large parts of Kunduz from Taliban presence and are fighting the militants in the outskirts of the city.
Mahfozullah Akbari, a spokesperson for the northern police zone, said that over 120 Taliban militants have been killed since the beginning of the fighting.
Akbari added that 14 security force members have been killed and 12 others wounded since the beginning of the fighting.
Police Chief Qasim Jangalbagh had spoken of 50 Talibans killed just a few hours before.
The only hospital operating in the city is barely functioning as doctors fled the facility after mortars went down in the hospital’s yard and parking lot on Wednesday.
Dr Saad Mukhtar, Head of the Public Health Department in Kunduz, also said about 220 civilians have been hospitalised since the fighting started.
The attack on Kunduz started on Sunday, one year after the Taliban took the strategically important city for two weeks in September 2015.
However, the attack was a shock to the Afghan government and to the international community.