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The Taliban led a major offensive this Saturday, Aug. 31, in Kunduz town in northern Afghanistan. This is not the first time that insurgents have attacked this strategic city, which has fallen twice in the hands of the Taliban since 2015. There are dozens wounded according to the Afghan authorities. This offensive comes as insurgents and the United States continue to negotiate a peace agreement in Doha.
With our correspondent in Kabul, Sonia Ghezali
Kunduz emptied of its inhabitants in a few hours. Many people fled in the early hours of fighting that broke out around 1:30 am Saturday. There is no water or electricity in the city. Phone connections no longer work.
Exchanges of heavy artillery fire resound in the ghost town where the special forces arrived in support Saturday at the end of the day. The Taliban are positioned in the suburbs of Kunduz. But it is in the heart of the city that a suicide bomber blew himself up near a group of security forces killing 10 people. The spokesperson for the police is among the victims. The police chief of Kunduz was wounded.
" The Taliban 's attack on Kunduz goes against the peace negotiations in Doha, " President Ashraf Ghani rebuked his spokesman.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the US envoy in Doha at the moment for the ninth round of talks between Americans and Taliban, said in a tweet that the subject was put on the table this Saturday. This kind of violence must stop, he says. But on the ground, they have never been interrupted since the beginning of the peace talks, more than ten months ago.