The Afghan army’s counterattack against the Taliban isn’t going well, despite western air support. Local ANA commanders admit their troops lack the resolve to fight and UN special forces are being put into the fight. Meanwhile, the Taliban may be trying to hold onto the city, rather than just establish a quick propaganda campaign. They are assuring the people of Kunduz that no harm will come to them. Kunduz is important for three reasons. The Taliban are a Pashtun movement and Kunduz is the only Pashtun part of northern Afghanistan. Supplies from the north flow through Kunduz and may now be endangered. Kunduz province is home to burgeoning oil and gas projects.
The Afghan army may be stretched thin. Western special forces units may have to play more prominent roles in countering Taliban moves.
Russian jets begin airstrikes in Syria
Shortly after deploying Su-25s and SU-26s to a base near Latakia, Russia has begun airstrikes. Early reports are they are not targeting ISIL forces, but other rebel forces. Some of the targeted rebel forces are backed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and the Muslim Brotherhood. This will annoy those countries, and the US, as they thought Russia would concentrate on ISIL, as Moscow’s rhetoric claimed.
Meanwhile, the Russian Orthodox Church has called the intervention in Syria as a “holy battle.”
Iranian news agencies are reporting that at least 200 ISIL troops in northern Iraq have left for better paying units in Syria.