Lagebeobachtung Afghanistan: Taliban aus Kundus vertrieben, Anschlag in Balkh (Korrektur)

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Die Lage in Afghanistan steht hierzulande zwar im Hintergrund, sofern es nicht um Kundus geht, aber zwei Merkposten am (heutigen) Mittwoch:

• Nach mehr als einer Woche sind die Taliban, so die offiziellen Angaben, aus der nordafghanischen Provinzstadt Kundus vertrieben:

Afghan security forces cleared Kunduz of Taliban fighters Wednesday after more than a week of fighting in the northern city, which the insurgents had briefly captured and held last year, Afghan and U.S. officials said.
The spokesman for U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, said Wednesday that it was too early to determine how the Taliban had been able to infiltrate the city but that “there clearly was a failure.”
(Stars&Stripes)

• Nach einem Anschlag auf schiitische Pilger in Kabul am Dienstag gab es am Mittwoch einen erneuten Anschlag auf eine schiitische Moschee in Masar-i-Scharif der Provinz Balk in Nordafghanistan:

At least 14 Shias were killed Wednesday in a powerful blast at a mosque in northern Afghanistan, the second deadly attack on the minority in as many days during the major festival of Ashura.
“The explosion happened at the gate of the Shia mosque in the centre of Balkh district (in Balkh province),” said the provincial governor’s spokesman Munir Ahmad Farhad, adding that 14 people were killed and 28 injured.
(AFP)

Nachtrag: Das Afghanistan Analysts Network schaut sich den jüngsten Angriff der Taliban auf Kundus näher an:

The Taleban Assault on Kunduz city: Déjà vu, but why?

Eine Kernaussage:

It is worrying that the attack on Kunduz seems to have taken the government by surprise again, after repeated assurances by security officials that the situation was in hand. This shows, not only a continued vulnerability to attack and collapse, but also a lack of awareness about where the main vulnerabilities lie and an inability to effectively respond. The fact that the Taleban could simply replicate its previous strategy – to encircle the city and to cut the reinforcement and supply routes – is worrying, since the government, and the international military, have been keen not to see another fall of the city.

(Korrektur oben: Der Anschlag fand im Distrikt Balkh in der Provinz Balkh statt, nicht in der Provinzhauptstadt Masar-i-Scharif – ich bitte um Entschuldigung für den Fehler.)