KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (AP) – Two months after the Taliban rampaged through the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, residents are still sifting through the rubble, wondering how they will ever rebuild and worrying that the insurgents will return.
The Taliban swept into the strategic northern city in late September, holding it for three days and looting and destroying shops before being driven out by a massive counteroffensive backed by U.S. airstrikes.
The street by street fighting devastated wide swaths of Kunduz at a time when Afghanistan’s finances are stretched thin by a seemingly never-ending war. International aid is being scaled down alongside the withdrawal of most foreign troops, who officially concluded their combat mission last year.
The Taliban are meanwhile dug in on the city’s outskirts, and many fear they could return.
“I lost everything I had – my house, my business and my property,” said Ahmad Jan, who sold TVs and DVDs in Kunduz. The Taliban torched his shop, and then his home was demolished during the battle to drive them out, he said. He moved his family to a neighboring province for safety.