The Taliban said on Tuesday they are withdrawing from Kunduz, a strategic northern city that briefly fell to the insurgents last month, as an Afghan official said life there is returning to normal.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an e-mail to media members that the group’s fighters are retreating to avoid further civilian casualties. “Afghan security forces are in control of the whole city,” said Gen. Mohammad Qasim Jungulbagh, provincial police chief of Kunduz.
Taliban insurgents were present on the outskirts of the city, and were mostly holed up in the Chahar Dara district, a long-time stronghold, Gen. Jungulbagh said.
After two weeks of fighting, local people are venturing out and shops are open again, said Sultan Mohammad, 32, a Kunduz resident. He said electricity was being restored but problems with the water supply remained.
The Taliban stormed Kunduz on September 28 and held the city for three days before being driven back. Exact numbers of dead and wounded are unclear, but believed to be in the hundreds. The Public Health Ministry has said that more than 60 civilians have been killed, and around 800 wounded in the fighting.
Meanwhile U.S. and Afghan forces completed a major air and ground operation against an al-Qaeda training site on Sunday in southern Kandahar province in which numerous militants were killed, according to a statement released Tuesday by NATO. The statement said the operation, which began October 7, was the result of months of intelligence and planning.
