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President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan stands in front of his nation's flag during a press conference at the White House, Mar. 24, 2015.

President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan stands in front of his nation's flag during a press conference at the White House, Mar. 24, 2015. (Joe Gromelski/Stars and Stripes)

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Ashraf Ghani urged Afghans on Tuesday not the give in to “fear and terror” as government forces sought to dislodge Taliban fighters from the northern city of Kunduz, which they overran a day earlier dealing a severe blow to the government.

The Afghan counterattack began early Tuesday, with commandos and other reinforcements retaking government buildings that had been captured by insurgents, Ghani said in a televised speech that marked a year since he took office.

The enemy has sustained heavy casualties,” he said, trying to reassure Afghans that government troops are up to the task.

However, news reports from Kunduz indicated that the Taliban were reinforcing their control of the city, the first seized by the insurgents since the U.S.-led invasion of 2001. The AP said Taliban fighters fanned out across the city Tuesday, setting up checkpoints, setting fire to government buildings, hunting for government loyalists and sealing off exit routes for anyone who wished to escape.

U.S. warplanes carried out an early morning airstrike on Taliban positions, enabling government troops to recapture a newly built police office and the prison where the Taliban had freed about 600 prisoners, including at least 120 insurgents, according to the head of the National Directorate of Security, Rahmatullah Nabil.

However, the AP quoted a NATO officer as saying more airstrikes were unlikely as "all the Taliban are inside the city and so are all the people." He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief media on the situation.

The brazen attack on Kunduz seemingly took government forces by surprise, forcing them to abandon the city for new positions near the airport 6.5 miles south of town.

Even if government forces manage to retake the city, the Taliban’s move into Kunduz demonstrated the vulnerabilities of the NATO-trained Afghan force and raised questions about its ability to keep the insurgency at bay.

Monday’s assault — which involved a level of command and control that the guerrillas had not demonstrated in the past — also represents a serious blow to the Ghani administration, which has been trying to engage the Taliban in a peace process aimed at ending the 14-year conflict.

Meanwhile, Afghan officials denied reports that their forces had completely abandoned Kunduz, a city of about 300,000 people, by Monday night.

“We still have many areas in our control, and we will soon solve this problem,” Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said Tuesday. “We have enough force in Kunduz right now to push back the Taliban.”

A police official in Kunduz said only a few key government buildings had been retaken by late afternoon with operations continuing as new reinforcements took up positions throughout the day.

In the past, the Taliban have limited themselves to trying to occupy smaller towns, such as Afghanistan’s approximately 400 district centers. Although they have succeeded in overrunning a handful during this year’s fighting season, they have been regularly expelled within days in counterattacks by government reinforcements. Coalition officials have touted that as proof of the Afghan forces’ resilience and ability to secure the country.

Afghan army forces, including top corps commanders, units from nearby Balkh province and Kabul, as well as commando units, massed at the airport in preparation for the counterattack on the city, Waziri said.

An Interior Ministry official trapped in the occupied areas said in a social media post that he had seen government forces enter the city.

Speaking by phone from the roof of his house inside the Taliban occupied neighborhoods in the center of the city, Shah Mahmoud told Stars and Stripes he could still see the white Taliban banner flying over the main square.

But some insurgents in the area didn’t seem to be digging in for a fight, he said.

“The Taliban are pulling government cars and people’s motorcycles from their shops and moving them out,” Mahmoud said. “I have seen jewelry and money exchanger’s shops doors broken and looted near my house.”

Most of the Taliban fighters appear to be Afghan Pashtuns and Uzbeks, rather than foreigners, he added. Mahmoud appeared to be referring to intelligence reports that many of the guerrillas fighting government forces in the north were from neighboring Uzbekistan or from northwestern Pakistan.

That was an assessment echoed by Shaista Baz Naseri, a member of parliament from Kunduz province.

“Our people told me that all the Taliban look like Afghans and residents of that region,” he said. Taliban in the city used loudspeakers to try to reassure residents of their peaceful intentions, he added.

"None of the security forces or officials had any information about the attack; if they had they would have warned the NGOs, the U.N. and the banks, but they didn't," said one Kunduz resident, a banker who escaped the city late Monday and spoke to The Associated Press in Kabul.

"Yesterday it was possible for people to get out of the city, but today it is too late because all roads are under the Taliban control," said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.

Many of the local police defending the city’s checkpoints were overmatched and never received any back up, said Mohmmad Najib, another Kunduz resident.

“Only a few security members fought the Taliban,” he said by telephone. “There is a check post near my house, they kept fighting and were asking for help, (but) no one arrived for help.”

“We were watching, at the end, four of the 10 policemen were killed, three were wounded, including their commander. Finally just three Taliban showed up and took over the post.”

Venting his anger at the failure of the government to secure the city, Najib said he would prefer the Taliban just stay if it means the fighting will end.

"None of the security forces or officials had any information about the attack; if they had they would have warned the NGOs, the U.N. and the banks, but they didn't," said one Kunduz resident, a banker who escaped the city late Monday, told the AP.

"Yesterday it was possible for people to get out of the city, but today it is too late because all roads are under the Taliban control," said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.

The French charity Doctors Without Borders reported receiving 171 injured patients, including 46 children, most of them with gunshot wounds. The provincial health director, Saad Mukhtar, said the central hospital had treated 172 injured people as of noon, and had received 16 dead.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

smith.josh@stripes.comTwitter: @joshjonsmith

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