Kunduz residents flee city as clashes cause food shortages

KABUL — With American helicopters providing air support, Afghan forces battled the Taliban in the northern city of Kunduz for the third straight day Wednesday, following the multipronged attack launched by insurgents earlier this week. Afghan Gen. Qasim Jungalbagh, the provincial police chief, said Taliban gunmen launched fresh attacks in Kunduz from the south and east early Wednesday. He said “clearance operations” had begun inside the city but that heavy clashes continued on the outskirts, “to the south and east of the city.” Also Wednesday, the Taliban began forcing people from their homes in an effort to start an exodus from Kunduz, similar to what happened a year ago when half the population of around 300,000 fled the city. Since pushing into Kunduz on Monday and briefly hoisting their flag at a main intersection, the Taliban were pushed back but their fighters remain hunkered down in residential homes, slowing the Afghan counter-offensive. The US military was providing air support to Afghan forces, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Charlie Cleveland said. However, he described the fighting as “sporadic,” saying that since Tuesday night, “US forces have conducted two engagements from the air to defend friendly forces.” He did not provide further details. Jungalbagh said 42 insurgents have been killed and more than 25 others wounded in the battles. Earlier, the Defense Ministry said five Afghan security personnel were killed and 13 others wounded. Meanwhile, many residents complained of food shortages as they prepared to flee the city fearing more violence. “We are facing a shortage of food in the city. The prices are skyrocketing. A loaf of bread that cost 15 Afghanis ($0.22) is now 40 Afghanis ($0.60),” a resident, Khalid, told AFP. “People have to wait in queues for hours behind bakeries to buy bread,” he said. Frightened citizens were still trying to flee amid unconfirmed reports the militants were building up their presence once more. “Almost all the people in the city want to leave. I have been trying to find transportation for hours today, but all cars are full,” Nasirullah, waiting in the bus station with his family of five, said. Khairuddin, a teacher in the city, said schools, universities and other private and public institutions were shut and residents were left without electricity as the main power station had been destroyed by militants. “The few shops that are open are running out of food items. We don’t know when the government is going to begin their clearance operation to push them (Taliban) completely out of the town,” he said. The main roads to the city are also cut off, he said. Dr. Hamid Alam, Kunduz provincial department director, said that more than 160 civilians “wounded as a result of clashes” have been admitted to the city’s public hospital in the past three days. He gave no further details. Mohammad Yusouf Ayubi, head of the Kunduz provincial council, said food prices have almost tripled since the attack began and that food, water and electricity are all in short supply. The Taliban said in a statement emailed to media that they have taken the Kunduz office of the national intelligence agency but the claim could not be immediately confirmed and the insurgents regularly exaggerate battlefield successes. Kunduz, a major crossroads in the country’s north, briefly fell to the Taliban a year ago before they were beaten back by Afghan forces with the help of US air strikes.