Kunduz ain't Jalalabad

[khad]

Remember how in 1989 the Afghan army withstood the combined might of all the mujahideen, killed thousands of those fuckers, and led to the ignominious firing of Hamid Gul from the ISI?

Today, in the span of less than 12 hours, the northern city of Kunduz fell to a few hundred taliban. The pedophiles of the Afghan police fled after only a token resistance. This is the first Afghan provincial capital to fall to insurgents since 1991.


The Taliban’s largest victory in years comes just over a week before the American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John F. Campbell, is expected to return to Washington to testify before Congress about the course of the war and what America’s continued involvement should be. There are some 10,000 American troops in the country, many of them focused on training or advising the Afghan forces, and the White House has not yet decided whether to keep a force of that number here for another year or begin pulling them from the country in the coming months.

Hanging over that briefing will be the fall of a significant Afghan regional center that came about not so much because of an overwhelming offensive by the Taliban as a collapse under pressure by the country’s Western-trained security forces.

Security personnel attempted to defend the city in northern Afghanistan after Taliban fighters launched an assault on Monday, raising their flag in at least one neighborhood. By REUTERS on Publish Date September 28, 2015. Photo by Stringer/Afghanistan/Reuters. Watch in Times Video »

For a year, local officials had been sounding the alarm about the insurgents’ advance toward Kunduz, even as some Afghan and Western officials had sought to describe the Taliban’s gains in Afghanistan as marginal and largely confined to rural areas, far from population centers.

One security official briefed on the situation in Kunduz estimated that the Taliban force in the city numbered about 500, a small fraction of the thousands of government security forces and allied militiamen based in the city and in the surrounding areas.

Article Link (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/29/world/asia/taliban-fighters-enter-city-of-kunduz-in-northern-afghanistan.html?_r=0)

[khad]

Only known source inside Kunduz city, livetweeting it as it happened

Ehsan ‏@ehsan_af 19h19 hours ago
Taliban insurgrnts inside kunduz city

Ehsan ‏@ehsan_af 19h19 hours ago
Kunduz city is about to fall into the taliban

Ehsan ‏@ehsan_af 17h17 hours ago
ANSF chopers just started air stikes over the city in zakhel khundan

Ehsan ‏@ehsan_af 17h17 hours ago
From khanabad side enenmy approaching towards city center. Kanake enayat under firing.

Ehsan ‏@ehsan_af 17h17 hours ago
Kunduz is under target from 4 sides, ANSF cant control the situation, NATO intervetion is a must at this moment or the city falls completley

Ehsan ‏@ehsan_af 16h16 hours ago
Cofirmed: kunduz main hospital with taliban.

Ehsan ‏@ehsan_af 15h15 hours ago
#kunduz, Hundreds of families displaced inside kunduz, no place to go all roads are blocked.

Ehsan ‏@ehsan_af 13h13 hours ago
#kunduz: no fighting at the moment, captured areas remain under the control of taliban

Ehsan ‏@ehsan_af 12h12 hours ago
All kunduz is about to fall into the hands of taliban

Ehsan ‏@ehsan_af 12h12 hours ago
ANSF withdrawing from kunduz city

Ehsan ‏@ehsan_af 12h12 hours ago
Taliabn are inside city @ main square

Ehsan ‏@ehsan_af 11h11 hours ago
Kunduz city is completely with taliban ANSF are out

Ehsan ‏@ehsan_af 11h11 hours ago
#kunduz: the city is completely with taliban now, taliban walking inside streets, i am trapped at home

[Emmett Till]

Remember how in 1989 the Afghan army withstood the combined might of all the mujahideen, killed thousands of those fuckers, and led to the ignominious firing of Hamid Gul from the ISI?

Today, in the span of less than 12 hours, the northern city of Kunduz fell to a few hundred taliban. The pedophiles of the Afghan police fled after only a token resistance. This is the first Afghan provincial capital to fall to insurgents since 1991.



The 1989 battle of Jalalabad took place during the Spartacist campaign to "aid heroic Jalalabad," with a Spartacist delegation visiting Jalalabad to deliver material aid, and right in the aftermath of the demoralizing Soviet withdrawal.

So the Jalalabad fighters were buoyed up by the idea that at least some people in the outside world were supporting their struggle. As Napoleon said, in warfare the moral is to the material as ten is to one. As the Vietnamese demonstrated vs. the US.

But hell, nobody, literally nobody, thinks the current government of Afghanistan are anything other than brutal ultra corrupt child-molesting drug dealing warlords and US puppets. Their demise cannot be long delayed without US troops to prop them up

[khad]

Our Kunduz source is on the run, but he's still reporting. What a brave guy. no irony here. It's a fucking bleak picture out there - the entire province is getting overrun, district by district.

kunduz jan [email protected]_af 16h16 hours ago
#kunduz: situation in kunduz very serious, just now dozens of ANA surounded to taliban at Haji Rehmat bridge near airport, locals confirmed.

kunduz jan [email protected]_af 16h16 hours ago
Around 60 to 70 surrenderd ANA at Haji Rehmat bridge disarmed and freed by taliban local resident and several eyewitnesed.

kunduz jan [email protected]_af 13h13 hours ago
Thanks God, just made it safe out of kunduz city amid heavey fighting to somewhere safe but still in kunduz. It is like a hell inside d city

kunduz jan [email protected]_af 13h13 hours ago
While leving kdz saw 3 gov humvee wd ANA in high speed going frm bala hesar to airport thrgh main square and taliban were frng them,so brave

kunduz jan [email protected]_af 13h13 hours ago
Hope they made it to airport, brave solildiers i pray for them

kunduz jan [email protected]_af 9h9 hours ago
#kunduz: Tashguzar base located in Imam Sahib disct now with taliban ALP & ANA left it peacefully to taliban, confirmed.

kunduz jan [email protected]_af 9h9 hours ago
#Baghlan: Baghlan-Mazar highway blocked by insurgents at cheshmay sheer area,

kunduz jan [email protected]_af 9h9 hours ago
Heavey fighting at Imam Sahib dist of Kunduz. Taliban attacked Imam sahib hours ago.

kunduz jan [email protected]_af 8h8 hours ago
#Kunduz: Imam Sahib district city is now completly undr the contrl of taliban, now heading to sher khan bandar. No resistance by ANSF/ALP

[khad]

Lots of reports, all disputed. Suffice it to say that the ANA and Taliban are playing capture the flag in the city square. One side will have photos taken, and a few hours later, the other will put out theirs.

kunduz jan [email protected]_af 10h10 hours ago
#kunduz: half of city remains under the control of talinan, street to street fighting continues inside the city. night was calm,

Outside of Kunduz, there are reports of the Taliban advancing in Badakhshan, Takhar, Balkh, and Farah. Islamic State becoming active in Nangarhar.

[khad]

Shouldn't be a surprise, but to impart some context to situation in Kunduz...

Mirwais Afghan ‏@Miirwais (https://twitter.com/Miirwais) 2h2 hours ago (https://twitter.com/Miirwais/status/649962906184994816) #AFG (https://twitter.com/hashtag/AFG?src=hash) OmarSafi, Governor of Kunduz says crimes of armed anti-Taliban militia groups in Kunduz pawed path for the city's fall to Taliban hands


Mirwais Afghan ‏@Miirwais (https://twitter.com/Miirwais) 44m44 minutes ago (https://twitter.com/Miirwais/status/649981506287480832)
Kunduz governor accuses local MP of keeping 3 boys for #BachaBazi (https://twitter.com/hashtag/BachaBazi?src=hash) purpose. All pre Taliban-emergence signs reappearing in Afghanistan

[left-libertarian]

Remember how in 1989 the Afghan army withstood the combined might of all the mujahideen
Not all of the mujahideen participated in the Battle of Jalalabad. This is what Wikipedia says about the Battle of Jalalabad.

"The Jalalabad operation was seen as a grave mistake by some mujahideen leaders such as Ahmad Shah Massoud and Abdul Haq, who did not believe the mujahideen had the capacity to capture a major city in conventional warfare."

"Neither Massoud nor Haq had participated in the attack on Jalalabad. Massoud even said it was by BBC radio that he learned about the operation."

[khad]

Medicins Sans Frontieres just lost a bunch of its volunteers when the USA bombed Kunduz hospital. It doesn't seem like there was any Taliban there. How's Obama Pasha going to deny this?

Mirwais Afghan ‏@Miirwais (https://twitter.com/Miirwais) 4h4 hours ago (https://twitter.com/Miirwais/status/650209642149187584) Dozens of doctors, nurses and mostly Patients killed&wounded as US-airstrikes hit a local #Kunduz (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kunduz?src=hash) hospital

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CQYCOSfUcAAm3uo.jpg


Mirwais Afghan ‏@Miirwais (https://twitter.com/Miirwais) 4h4 hours ago (https://twitter.com/Miirwais/status/650210181230526464)
Doctor #EhsanUsmani (https://twitter.com/hashtag/EhsanUsmani?src=hash) is among dozens of @MSF (https://twitter.com/MSF) staff killed in US-airstrike on Kunduz hospital


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CQYCtkXUkAA8q_r.jpg

Mirwais Afghan ‏@Miirwais (https://twitter.com/Miirwais) 3h3 hours ago (https://twitter.com/Miirwais/status/650214840699613184) Doctor #AminSalarzai (https://twitter.com/hashtag/AminSalarzai?src=hash) one of @MSF (https://twitter.com/MSF) staff killed in US-airstrike on Kunduz hospital



https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CQYG8UUXAAAdl9B.jpg


Mirwais Afghan ‏@Miirwais (https://twitter.com/Miirwais) 3h3 hours ago (https://twitter.com/Miirwais/status/650218002131107840)
Activist #ZabihullahPukhoonYar (https://twitter.com/hashtag/ZabihullahPukhoonYar?src=hash) who workd with 'Doctors without bordrs @MSF (https://twitter.com/MSF)' killd in US-airstrike on Kunduz hospital



https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CQYJ0vqWEAAU9x2.jpg


Mirwais Afghan ‏@Miirwais (https://twitter.com/Miirwais) 3h3 hours ago (https://twitter.com/Miirwais/status/650226468547612672) If Kunduz has been cleared from Taliban and retaken (per Govt claims), then why US is still carrying out airstrikes & bombing hospitals?

Mirwais Afghan ‏@Miirwais (https://twitter.com/Miirwais) 1h1 hour ago (https://twitter.com/Miirwais/status/650243834476150784)
Update: 9 @MSF (https://twitter.com/MSF) staff killed & 24 other injured in US-airstrike on Kunduz hospital. Jets kept bombing hospital for 30 minutes: #MSF (https://twitter.com/hashtag/MSF?src=hash) sources

Mirwais Afghan ‏@Miirwais (https://twitter.com/Miirwais) 1h1 hour ago (https://twitter.com/Miirwais/status/650247950640267264)
Brave @MSF (https://twitter.com/MSF) staff resume their work even though hit by US-airstrike killing 9 of their colleagues in #Kunduz (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kunduz?src=hash)

[khad]

Sune Engel Rasmussen, reporting for the Guardian in Afghanistan.

MSF said nine of its staff members were killed during the bombing on Saturday morning and another 37 were wounded, including 19 staff. The group emphasised that those numbers were likely to rise.
“There are many patients and staff who remain unaccounted for. The numbers keep growing as we develop a clearer picture of the aftermath of this horrific bombing,” MSF said in a statement.
MSF also confirmed the Guardian’s previous reporting that the organisation had shared GPS coordinates of its medical facilities on Kunduz with Nato and the US military (http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/us-military). MSF also said the bombing of their hospital continued for 30 minutes after American and Afghan officials had been made aware that it was under attack.
“MSF condemns in the strongest possible terms the horrific bombing of its hospital in Kunduz full of staff and patients. MSF wishes to clarify that all parties to the conflict, including in Kabul and Washington, were clearly informed of the precise location (GPS Coordinates) of the MSF facilities - hospital, guesthouse, office and an outreach stabilization unit in Chardara (to the north-west of Kunduz). As MSF does in all conflict contexts, these precise locations were communicated to all parties on multiple occasions over the past months, including most recently on 29 September,” the statement said.
“The bombing continued for more than 30 minutes after American and Afghan military officials in Kabul and Washington were first informed. MSF urgently seeks clarity on exactly what took place and how this terrible event could have happened.”
MSF said some of the most critically wounded by the bombing had been transferred for stabilisation in a hospital in Pul-e Khumri two hours’ drive away.

Update: Death toll is now "at least 50"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/11909123/Kunduz-Nato-investigates-whether-US-air-strike-hit-hospital-latest.html