Taliban Seizes Major Afghan City

The Taliban has regained control of a major city as the Afghanistan government continues to be ineffective against the group without strong U.S. support.

The insurgent group was able to seize the provincial capital of Kunduz, taking control of the governor's office in the biggest success for the group since the U.S invasion in 2001 after the September 11th attacks, according to Reuters.

It was the second attack on the city this year, and an assault from three directions before dawn proved to be enough to overwhelm the forces of the Afghan government, who had been trained and armed by the United States.

The New York Times reports that the assault was part of a months-long siege, and after taking the city Taliban fighters set prisoners free and burned down police stations. There were also reports of looting at jewelry stores, but it was not clear who exactly was looting.

The Afghan government said that its forces were regrouping at the city's airport and they would be launching an assault to retake the city soon. Some of the country's best trained troops have been flown to the city to help in the offensive.

Afghanistan's minister of defense said that his forces withdrew not because of weakness, but because they did not want to subject the civilian population to total urban warfare.

The city is said to be without phone or electrical service, and hundreds if not thousands of people are trying to flee as an uptick in violence is now inevitable.

The Taliban has been steadily gaining territory from the Afghan government since NATO ended its military mission in 2014.