Residents of Afghanistan’s Kunduz recount Taliban takeover

Locals report fear and destruction as the Taliban seizes Afghanistan’s fifth-largest city for third time in seven years.

Kabul, Afghanistan – Late on Sunday afternoon, the Taliban flew its flag from the main roundabout in the northern city of Kunduz. It marked the third time in seven years that the armed group had managed to wrest control of what the government had hoped would be a model for all of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. Kunduz is the fifth northern provincial capital to fall to the Taliban in less than a week, and the sixth overall in the country. The fall of the cities come amid an intensifying Taliban offensive as US and NATO forces complete their final withdrawal from Afghanistan.