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 But fighting continued in other parts of the city, whose brief
capture represented a major victory for the insurgents and raised
questions over whether NATO-trained Afghan forces were ready to go
it alone now that most foreign combat troops have left.
Residents said soldiers were conducting house-to-house searches and
had removed the Taliban flag from the central square, replacing it
with government colors.
"There are military helicopters in the sky and government forces
everywhere," said Abdul Ahad, a doctor in the city. "Dead Taliban
are on the streets, but there are still (militants) in some
government buildings fighting Afghan forces."A Taliban spokesman
denied the government had retaken all of Kunduz and said insurgent
fighters had withdrawn to the edges of the city to avoid being
encircled by Afghan and U.S. forces.
Smoke was billowing from buildings on the city's outskirts on
Thursday afternoon.
"The Taliban are still resisting in the city," resident Wali
Mohammed said.
 Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, said the
Taliban had left Kunduz city and a clearance operation was underway.
A ministry statement said 150 Taliban had been killed and 90 wounded
in the overnight offensive.
At least 30 people, mostly civilians, had been killed in the
fighting as of Wednesday, according to a tweet from health ministry
spokesman Wahidullah Mayar. He also said hospitals in Kunduz had
treated about 340 injured.
RESIDENTS STILL IN HIDING
Terrified residents said there was heavy fighting overnight as the
Afghan forces moved in.
"There were very heavy air strikes during the night. Those strikes
prompted the Taliban to escape," Kunduz resident Abdul Qadir Anwari
said on Thursday morning.
"Right now Afghan security forces are on the streets and fighting
with the Taliban in some areas outside the city. Shops are still
closed and people aren't leaving their houses."
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said fighting continued on
Thursday."It was our tactic to vacate the city to allow enemy troops
enter so we could encircle them," he said.
A spokesman for the Western coalition did not comment directly on
what role its troops played in the overnight offensive, if any,
saying that they were "involved in Kunduz" in an advisory role.
"Our service members retain the right to protect themselves, if
necessary, while performing their advise-and-assist mission,"
spokesman Col. Brian Tribus added.
 On Wednesday, a group of coalition special forces, including U.S.
troops, engaged the Taliban in a ground clash, Tribus had said
earlier.
He confirmed there had been five U.S. air strikes against Taliban
positions near the city and airport since fighting broke out on
Monday "to eliminate threats to coalition and Afghan forces."
The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan with a harsh interpretation of
Islamic law for five years, have been fighting to re-establish their
Islamist rule after being toppled from power by a U.S.-led
intervention in 2001.
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The once-quiet north of Afghanistan has seen escalating violence in
recent years as the insurgency sought to gain territory, and swathes
of Kunduz province have repeatedly come under siege this year.
Yet the Taliban's pre-dawn assault on Kunduz on Monday caught the
Afghan police and army by surprise, handing the group arguably its
largest victory in 14 years of war.
The three days it took to bring a major city back under government
control may have political consequences for President Ashraf Ghani,
whose first year in office has been clouded by infighting and
escalating violence around the country.
FIERCE STRUGGLE
The city's capture by the Taliban was a blow to the narrative that
the NATO-trained Afghan police and army were steadily improving and
able to prevent the Taliban from taking over and holding significant
territory.
Training the 350,000-strong Afghan National Security Forces has been
the heart of the U.S. plan to end involvement in its longest war.
NATO forces officially wound up their combat role last year, leaving
behind a training and advising force of several thousand.
Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah told Reuters on Wednesday that the
crisis in Kunduz demonstrated the need for foreign troops to stay in
the country.
"As far as I understand, the view of all those (U.S.) Army generals
and officers on the ground ... in Afghanistan, as well as our own
security and military leadership, is that maintaining a level of
force beyond 2016 is necessary," he said in New York.
While Afghan forces celebrated, some warned that the Taliban's
retreat could be temporary, especially because the insurgents looted
banks and seized military equipment during their three-day
occupation.
"There are huge amounts of cash floating around, weapons and
ammunition," said Ted Callahan, a Western security analyst. "They
have moved stockpiles (to outlying districts) because they knew they
wouldn't hold the city for long."
(Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni, Jessica Donati and Kay
Johnson in Kabuland Jibran Ahmed in Peshawar, Pakistan; Writing by
Kay Johnson and Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and
Mike Collett-White)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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