Siege of Kunduz

For the 2015 battle, see Battle of Kunduz (2015).

Siege of Kunduz
Part of the 2001–2021 War in Afghanistan
US Army Special Forces soldiers with Northern Alliance fighters outside Kunduz in November 2001
Date 11 November 2001 –25 November 2001 (2 weeks) Location Kunduz, Afghanistan Result Northern Alliance and US victory
Belligerents
Northern Alliance United States	Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Taliban al-Qaeda IMU
Commanders and leaders
Mohammed Daud Daud Abdul Rashid Dostum Tommy Franks	Mullah Fazl [1]   Mullah Noori [1]
Strength
10,000 [2] 12 advisers	5,000 Taliban [1] 3,000 foreign fighters [3]
Casualties and losses
Unknown None	2,000 killed or wounded, 3,000 to 3,500 surrendered [4] [5] 2,000–5,000 airlifted by ISI [6] [5] (denied by the US and Pakistan)

The siege of Kunduz occurred during the 2001 United States invasion of Afghanistan. After the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif on 9 November, the focus of the Northern Alliance advance shifted towards the city of Kunduz, which was the last remaining Taliban stronghold in northern Afghanistan. ^[7]

The siege

Forces under the command of General Mohammed Daud Daud rendezvoused with American Special Forces advisers and advanced on Taloqan, arriving outside the city on 11 November. There, General Daud persuaded the local Taliban leader to switch sides, thus capturing the city without firing a single shot. ^[8]

After seizing control of Taloqan, Daud's forces advanced on the city of Kunduz. In an attempt to achieve a victory without relying on US assistance, Daud launched a frontal assault on the city without informing the Americans. The attack ended in a disastrous failure, resulting in the deaths of several hundred Northern Alliance fighters. ^[9] Following this setback, Daud regrouped his forces and laid siege to the city, this time relying on American air support to weaken the Taliban defenses. For the next eleven days, US warplanes bombarded Taliban positions, destroying 44 bunker complexes, 12 tanks, 51 trucks as well as numerous supply dumps, while inflicting losses of 2,000 killed or wounded. ^[5] The defenders of Kunduz included a disproportionately large number of foreign fighters, including Arab, Chechen and Uzbek jihadists ^[10] as well as Pakistani trainers and ISI operatives. ^[1]

See also: Kunduz airlift

On 22 November, Daud's forces captured the nearby town of Khan Abad, tightening the siege. With their defensive position deteriorating, the Taliban forces inside Kunduz entered into negotiations to surrender on 23 November. ^[5] Many of the city's defenders were able to escape with Pakistani assistance. At least 2,000 of the defenders inside Kunduz, including senior al-Qaeda members, were airlifted out of the city by Pakistani forces with tacit US approval, ^{[10] [1]} although both countries denied that this airlift occurred. ^[11] Some Northern Alliance leaders blamed the US for allowing the airlift to occur and expressed a desire for revenge against the foreign fighters who had been inside the city. ^[12] After the final Taliban surrender on 25 November, ^[1] reports began to emerge of Northern Alliance fighters looting the city and conducting executions of captured Taliban fighters. ^[13] The foreign fighters were treated much more harshly than the Afghan Taliban members. ^[10] The two Taliban commanders that had led the defense of Kunduz, Fazl and Noori, would later be shipped off to the Guantanamo Bay prison on the island of Cuba. ^[1]

Dasht-i-Leili massacre

Main article: Dasht-i-Leili massacre

Human rights groups estimate that between 200 to over 1,500 captured prisoners died in or after transit to Sherberghan prison. ^[14] The deaths became known as the Dasht-i-Leili massacre. Allegations have been made, notably by columnist Ted Rall and Jamie Doran's 2002 documentary Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death , that US troops were involved. ^[15] A July 2009 New York Times report caused US president Barack Obama to order a probe into how the Bush administration handled calls for investigation of the massacre. ^[16]

References

1. Malkasian 2021, p. 66.
2. Mccarthy, Terry (26 November 2001). "Dispatches: A Volatile State Of Siege After a Taliban Ambush". Time.
3. "Alliance says Kunduz has been captured". The Independent. 25 November 2001.
4. Barry, John (25 August 2002). "The Death Convoy Of Afghanistan". Newsweek. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
5. The United States Army in Afghanistan - Operation ENDURING FREEDOM - October 2001-March 2003
6. Gall, Carlotta (8 April 2014). The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001–2014. ISBN   9780544045682.
7. Harding, Luke; Watt, Nicholas; Whitaker, Brian (22 November 2001). "Northern stronghold ready to capitulate". The Guardian . Retrieved 15 August 2009.
8. Filkins, Dexter (15 September 2008). The Forever War (1st ed.). Vintage. p. 52.
9. Wright, Donald. "A Different Kind of War: The United States Army in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) October 2001-September 2005" (PDF). Combat Studies Institute Press. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 December 2016.
10. Maley 2020, p. 340.
11. Rashid, Ahmed (2008). Descent Into Chaos: The US and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. Penguin. pp. 91–92. ISBN   978-0-670-01970-0.
12. "The 'airlift of evil'". NBC News.
13. "Kunduz falls, and a bloody vengeance is executed". The Independent. 27 November 2001.
14. James Risen (10 July 2009). "U.S. Inaction Seen After Taliban P.O.W.'s Died". New York Times . Retrieved 14 July 2009.
15. Rall, Ted (17 July 2009). "Ted Rall: Obama is ignoring an atrocity that dwarfs My Lai". The State Journal-Register . Retrieved 1 August 2009.
16. Anderson Cooper (12 July 2009). "Obama orders review of alleged slayings of Taliban in Bush era". CNN . Retrieved 14 July 2009. President Obama has ordered national security officials to look into allegations that the Bush administration resisted efforts to investigate a CIA-backed Afghan warlord over the killings of hundreds of Taliban prisoners in 2001.

Bibliography

• Maley, William (3 November 2020). The Afghanistan Wars (3rd ed.). Bloomsbury Academic.
• Malkasian, Carter (2021). The American War in Afghanistan: A History. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-755077-9.

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