Taliban fighters capture major Afghan city for first time since 2001

The Taliban captured the major Afghan city of Kunduz Monday, sending government security forces into retreat just hours after the militants began to advance, The New York Times reports. Taliban fighters have been trying to capture the city since 2001, and over the summer had been locked in a stalemate.

The city's capture, according to The New York Times, represents "not so much an overwhelming offensive by the Taliban as a gradual collapse under pressure by the country's besieged security forces." The attack comes less than a year after the formal end of the NATO combat mission in Afghanistan.

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