Kunduz Battle Update

The Afghan military's push in the country's north region comes after insurgents close in on a provincial capital. Read "Afghan Forces Press Counter-Offensive to Defend New Front Line Against Taliban", The Wall Street Journal, April 29, 2015. (requires subscription login). Another report says that the Taliban has taken some significant losses - see "Kunduz Battle Leaves 154 Taliban Insurgents Dead", Tolo News, April 29, 2015.

The northern part of Afghanistan was for many years the bright spot on the horizon for the overall effort in Afghanistan. The areas reconstruction and development was progressing well. Many of the cities to include Mazar-e-Sharif and Kunduz were shining examples of economic growth and the establishment of sub-national governance. While there were many European countries committed to norther Afghanistan Germany took a special interest in Kunduz province. "The northern Afghan city of Kunduz is a symbol for Germany. It was meant to be a showcase project of German development policy. But the early signs of success weren't enough to prevent the West's failure in the region". Read more in "How the 'Kunduz spa resort' turned into a Taliban den", Deutsche Welle, April 29, 2015.

In a somewhat related news story we hear that a German court has upheld a decision not to pay any compensation to the families of 100 killed in a Kunduz airstrike by German aircraft. This incident caused major problems for the German government at the time.