On September 29, the Taliban overran the northern Afghan city of Kunduz. Kunduz was the last city to be freed from the grip
of the fundamentalist group and thus symbolized its defeat.
Its recapture, after 14 years, symbolizes just how tenacious the Taliban is as a group and how its ideology and effectiveness, far from being finished, is still relevant in Afghanistan, one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries.
With the pan-Islamic Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or Daesh) also trying to gain a foothold in Afghanistan, there is a real danger that that country could slide back into fundamentalism.
While reports suggest that the Afghan Army could retake the city soon, the capture has come as a shock to the residents of Kunduz and the people of Afghanistan, who feel betrayed by President Ashraf Ghani. The credibility of the Afghan security forces and their perceived ability to provide security to the Afghan people is now in question.
