KUNDUZ CITY - An in-depth investigation by TOLOnews has found that security forces are far outnumbered by Taliban fighters in the northern province of Kunduz and that troops continue to be in a defensive mode rather than on the offensive.
According to TOLOnews' Tamim Hamid, the Taliban has control over three districts in Kunduz, including dozens of villages in other districts in the province.
The report reveals that the Taliban has hundreds of armored and other military vehicles and equipment in their control. The vehicles total more than the vehicles owned by security forces in the province.
This information has emerged nine months after Taliban took control of Kunduz city for a short time in September last year.
According to Hamid, a number of Kunduz residents have still not returned to their houses as they are concerned about insecurity in their areas.
Kunduz residents said they still clearly remember the days during last year's battle in Kunduz city and that they are concerned about the Taliban's activities on the outskirts of the city.
Recently the insurgent group abducted a large number of bus passengers and killed at least 12 of them. This happened on just outside the city.
"Obviously, it is concerning when you hear that 40 or 30 bus passengers were stopped by insurgents," said Shafiullah, a rickshaw driver.
"The city was very busy. You could see huge numbers of people walking around, but now as you see no one is here," said Mohammad Ismail, an electronics device seller in the city.
After looking into the security situation of Kunduz city, Hamid and colleague Habib Azizi travelled to the outskirts of the city, where the passengers were abducted by Taliban a few days ago.
Qand Agha, a police force member said on the kidnapping incident: "We saved a number of them and a few of them were able to escape the Taliban."
According to sources which were interviewed, there are at least 4,000 Taliban fighters in Kunduz who are supported by an additional 1,500 fighters from Samangan, Baghlan and Takhar provinces during their big attacks.
As per TOLOnews' findings, Taliban has 180 ranger vehicles, 54 Humvee tanks and thousands of heavy and light weapons. These vehicles and weapons were seized by them during Kunduz city siege.
The vehicles are reportedly kept in Chardara, Dasht Archi and Qala-e-Zal districts in Kunduz.
Meanwhile, security forces include 3,000 army troops, 2,000 police force members and 1,000 local police force members, which have access to far less equipment. These numbers include support personnel that are non-combatant.
The total number of ANSF soldiers on the ground fighting the Taliban is far less than the number of fighters the Taliban has in the province, sources said.
According to local officials, security forces have not received vehicles to replace those that were taken by the Taliban during the fall of Kunduz city.
Kunduz governor Asadullah Amarkhail said they have witnessed heavy attacks by the Taliban in the past eight months, adding that a shortage of security forces was one of their main problems.
"The forces which we have are busy ensuring local security. Some security force members have remained to do our operational activities," the governor said.
Kunduz police chief Qasim Jangalbagh meanwhile said that his forces are not there to fight insurgents; they have other duties to follow, he said.
"All our forces are in a defensive mode. Yes! We will have good results hopefully in the near future," he added.
The investigation also found that security forces' support for the Afghan Security and Defense Forces (ANDSF) has decreased and that the U.S troops have completely stopped their drone attacks following the death of Taliban's former leader, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour.
Meanwhile, head of Kunduz provincial council, Mohammad Yusuf Ayubi, who attended a session to assess the Kunduz security situation, said they have sent dozens of suggestions to government to address the security concerns in the province, but that they have not received any proper response as yet.
"We suggested 2,000 local police, six new districts, four security headquarters for Kunduz city and the province itself, because the city has eight PDs and therefore eight security headquarters should be operational for them," he said.
Kunduz provincial council secretary Sahar Gul Alemi meanwhile said: "When we see a slight change in the city, we think that we have been attacked. We leave home with this morale," he added.
Akhtash, Kalbad and Gultepa are the new three districts which have been added to Kunduz's administrative structure recently but they are not out of government's control.
Most of those interviewed during this investigation said they believe that there are some measures that can help Kunduz city not to fall back to the Taliban.
Establishment of the army division which was promised by government, full equipment of security forces, removing the gap between security forces and people, are key suggestions made by interviewed residents of Kunduz.(Tolonews)