Taliban Quits Kunduz After U.S. Strikes

The Taliban has withdrawn from the first major Afghanistan city it had overtaken in more than a decade after a campaign by the Afghan military aided by U.S. airstrikes, the group announced Tuesday. Though it held Kunduz for barely two weeks, the militant group managed to seize military equipment and free prison inmates. “The Islamic Emirate considered it in its best military interest to fortify its trenches surrounding the city rather than keeping the city, which would result in casualties to the mujahideen and unnecessary waste of ammunition,” the group said in a statement Tuesday.