In Fallen Afghan City, Fires, Airstrikes and Victorious Taliban Taking Selfies

For two days, the Taliban battled Afghan government forces in the northern city of Kunduz, edging closer to its center. As shopkeeper Abdul Wahid ventured out for morning prayers on Sunday, he spotted Taliban fighters closing in on key government buildings.

Then, by 10 a.m. local time, it was suddenly over.

The Taliban, relaxed and cheerful, began to take selfies on the city’s main square, Sar-e-Chowk. They were now in charge. “Congratulations, congratulations,” a bearded commander shouted from the center of the square.

The city’s civilians, however, remained mostly indoors. “The city was closed, but the Taliban hoisted their white flags everywhere,” Mr. Wahid said. “There was a fire in the city center, and many of the shops and markets were burning.”

Footage released on social media showed Taliban fighters, wearing camouflage shalwar kameez and black slippers, driving around in Ford Rangers that still had the markings of the Afghan National Army—and white Taliban flags attached to the front grates.

One of the first items of business for the insurgents was to open the gates of the Kunduz prison, freeing scores of security detainees and common criminals, according to video footage and witnesses. Later, an airstrike hit the local headquarters of the National Directorate of Security, sending a thick plume of smoke into the sky, according to Faisal Noori, head of the local Shabnam radio station. It wasn’t clear if the aircraft was Afghan or American.

The biggest city in northeastern Afghanistan, Kunduz had been seized by the Taliban twice before, in 2015 and 2016. Back then, however, Afghan commandos assisted by U.S. special-operations forces and U.S. aircraft quickly repelled the insurgents. There was no such expectation Sunday, and several residents said they believed the Taliban would control the city for the long haul.

Provincial officials and remaining government military units fled to the fortified airport compound south of the city. While the Afghan ministry of defense said that operations to retake Kunduz began Sunday afternoon, fighting so far centered on the outskirts near the airport.

Inside the city, merchants tried to rescue their goods from the carpet market and other shopping areas affected by the fire.

 “The markets were burning, and there was no one to extinguish the fire,” said taxi driver Ubaidullah, who usually takes passengers between Kunduz and Kabul.

On Sunday, he was turned back at a new Taliban checkpoint on the road.

 “I hope to have a chance to take our family somewhere else” once the road reopens, he added.

Dozens of people were reported killed in Kunduz on Sunday as a result of the fighting and the fires. Many others were injured.

“There is no electricity and no water. The shops are closed and everyone is afraid,” said teacher Ghulam Raza, who ran into scores of Taliban fighters on his street early in the morning.

Habiba, a civil-society activist in Kunduz, said that she has been trapped in a basement between the city center and the airport, alongside three other families.

“The insurgents have begun to check houses for government employees and civil-society activists,” Habiba said, adding that she had tried to find a driver to flee to Kabul but couldn’t afford it because all the taxis were charging several times the normal price. In the early afternoon, a mortar shell hit a nearby house and killed the father of the family there.

While spotty mobile-phone coverage still remained in Kunduz, the lack of electricity meant that cellphone batteries were getting discharged as the day progressed.

As dusk descended, Kunduz was falling into isolation. Except for a rocket or two exploding every hour, there were no signs of fighting to retake the city, Habiba said.

 “Most phones are off and not reachable,” she said. “Some of our friends and relatives got stuck in the city apart from us. We still don’t know what they are going through.”