Taliban Secure Hold On Key Afghan City Despite US Airstrike

[Purveyor]

Last edited Tue Sep 29, 2015, 09:50 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Associated Press

Sep 29, 2:14 PM EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A day after capturing their first major city since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, the Taliban fanned out in full force Tuesday, closing roads, throwing up checkpoints and torching government buildings as residents huddled indoors, fearful of renewed fighting as Afghan forces deployed for a counteroffensive

U.S. warplanes carried out an early morning airstrike on Taliban positions, but government ground troops sent to try to retake Kunduz, one of Afghanistan's wealthiest and most strategic cities, were stalled by roadblocks and ambushes, unable to move closer than about a mile (two kilometers) toward their target.

A NATO officer said more airstrikes were unlikely as "all the Taliban are inside the city and so are all the people." He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief media on the issue.

His words suggested the fight to retake the city would involve painstaking street-by-street fighting as government forces try to avoid civilian casualties in retaking control.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-09-29-14-14-18

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The latest...

Counterattack by Afghans Fails; Airport Besieged
By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN and MUJIB MASHALSEPT. 29, 2015

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan was plunged deeper into crisis a day after the Taliban seized the northern city of Kunduz, as the insurgents on Tuesday kept assaulting the reeling Afghan security forces and the government struggled to mount a credible response.

Not only did a promised government counteroffensive on Kunduz not make headway during heavy fighting on Tuesday, but the day ended with yet another aggressive Taliban advance, with insurgents surrounding the airport to which hundreds of Afghan forces and at least as many civilians had retreated, thinking it would be safe.

After more than a day of relative silence as the situation worsened around Kunduz, the American military showed the first signs of increased involvement in what the Pentagon called “a setback,” conducting at least two airstrikes, and reportedly more as attacks continued at the airport late Tuesday.

Beyond the Taliban’s gains in Kunduz, there was evidence that the insurgents were also pushing a broader offensive in northern Afghanistan, officials said. One particular point of concern was Takhar Province, just east of Kunduz, where the insurgents were said to be heavily assaulting military checkpoints and government facilities in several districts over the past two days.

Questions about how thousands of army, police and militia defenders could continue to fare so poorly against a Taliban force that most local and military officials put in the hundreds hung over President Ashraf Ghani’s government and its American allies.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/30/world/asia/afghan-forces-seek-to-regain-kunduz-city-from-taliban.html

[happyslug]

1. I see the winter wheat crop is in the ground....

Guerrilla war in Afghanistan is like most such wars, dependent on the planting and harvesting of whatever the main crop for the Guerrilla is. In Vietnam it was rice, in Afghanistan it is Winter Wheat. Winter wheat is planed in the fall, left fallow over winter, grows again in the spring and harvested in the Summer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_wheat

http://www.shigen.nig.ac.jp/ewis/article/html/141/article.html;jsessionid=9EDE7E39ED479EA4C2D9303FE9B0615E

http://www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/highlights/2014/01/Afghanistan/

Winter wheat comes in starting in May and continues into June, then in August the Corn Crop comes in, but that is harvested by mid September, when the winter wheat crop is planted. In December you start to see the snow fall, thus most fighting stops till spring. Thus September through December is the time of most fighting in Afghanistan.

http://www.fao.org/giews/countrybrief/country.jsp?code=AFG