Afghan officials said government troops recaptured much of the strategic northern city of Kunduz from Taliban insurgents early on Thursday, October 1 three days after losing the provincial capital in an embarrassing defeat for Kabul and its U.S. allies, according to Reuters.
Details of the overnight counter-offensive were still emerging, and it was not immediately clear which areas of the city of 300,000 were back under government control.
A Taliban spokesman denied the government had retaken Kunduz, saying insurgent fighters were still resisting government forces in the center and controlled most of the rest of the city.
Afghan forces, backed by U.S. air strikes, have been struggling for two days to retake the city after it became the first provincial capital to fall to the Taliban since 2001.
"Afghan security forces got control of Kunduz city from Taliban overnight after heavy fighting," Hamdullah Danishi, acting governor of Kunduz province, told Reuters by telephone.
"After we got reinforcements and started a massive operation inside Kunduz city, the Taliban could not resist and escaped. We will give a full report soon," he added.
