Afghan Army Readying to Launch Massive Military Operations to Retake Kunduz Wednesday

“The Afghan forces’ commanders will end their planning tonight and possibly, a massive counteroffensive will start tomorrow morning,” Shayestehbaz Nasseri told FNA on Tuesday.

“The mop-up operations will begin soon,” he added.

Noting that the Afghan forces also had an attack on the Taliban positions on Tuesday, Nasseri said that they could regain control of key regions, including the new command building and the city prison.

Afghan forces started an operation to retake the city of Kunduz, after suffering a military reverse when it was seized by the Taliban on Monday.

The president said security forces were “retaking government buildings” and inflicting “heavy casualties”.

The Taliban had forced Afghan troops and officials to retreat to the airport and freed hundreds from jail, in one of their biggest assaults since 2001.

The attack on the Northern city came as President Ashraf Ghani completed a year in office. In a televised address on Tuesday, he vowed to retake Kunduz and accused the Taliban of “using civilians as shields”.

“The government of Afghanistan is a responsible government and it cannot bomb its people and compatriots inside the city and will not do so,” he said.