Intense fighting pits Afghan security forces against Taliban around Kunduz
Audio 01:12
Hospitals receive many wounded, testifies the doctor whom RFI questioned, several people succumb to their injuries before reaching the emergency room.
Here, wounded in a hospital in Kunduz, June 24, 2021. AP - Samiullah Quraishi
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
In Afghanistan, violence rages in the northeast.
The Taliban who surround the provincial capital of Kunduz are engaged in intense fighting with the Afghan security forces.
The fighting in recent days has left thousands on the roads.
RFI was able to speak with people still there.
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Three months before the total withdrawal of foreign troops, the Taliban continue their conquests.
After taking control of
the border posts with
neighboring
Tajikistan
, the insurgents extended their influence in northeastern Afghanistan: some fifty districts out of the 370 in Afghanistan, notably on the border of what was once the USSR, came under their control.
The fighting in recent days has left thousands on the roads.
More than 5,000 families have fled Kunduz in recent days.
The city already fell briefly to the Taliban in 2015 and 2016.
The sound of gunfire and explosions echoes almost uninterruptedly in Kunduz, explains over the phone to our correspondent in Kabul,
Sonia Ghezali,
a female doctor there, who wishes to remain anonymous.
“
The situation is terrible in Kunduz,
” she says.
The Taliban are in all districts.
The shots you hear are only 10 minutes from my home in the city center *.
"
The doctor explains to us that he was unable to go to the hospital where she works today because of the fighting.
Hospitals receive many wounded.
Many people succumb to their injuries before they reach the emergency room, she said.
She would like to run away, but it is too late.
"
I would also like to leave, but I can't anymore because the road to Kabul is too dangerous now,
" she assures us.
I was warned that I might get stuck in the middle of the shots.
I can't go anywhere anymore because there is fighting all around.
"
Some residents have taken up arms, she said, to support
the struggling Afghan
security
forces.
Air strikes are also reportedly carried out by the
Americans
against Taliban positions.
The latter denounce provocations from the United States and threaten reprisals.
► Also listen
:
Afghanistan: "The question is whether the pressure from the Taliban will increase on Kabul"
* Words translated by Jamail Baseer
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