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Taliban militants attacked Kunduz airport late Tuesday night, but were repelled by airstrikes, Afghan news agency Khaama Press reported.

Taliban fighters launched a three-pronged offensive on the capital of the northern Afghan province of Kunduz on Monday, fighting their way through the main entrances to the city, burning buildings and briefly taking over a hospital.

Taliban fighters have captured large swathes of Kunduz, a major city in northern Afghanistan, after the group launched a surprise attack.

In August the Taliban seized the district of Musa Qala in Helmand and were only driven back by Afghan forces days later, after 24 US airstrikes.

A Taliban spokesman said that one reason they attacked Kunduz was to show their group was still united since a new leader had been appointed in July, which made several in the group angry.

Health ministry spokesperson Wahidullah Mayar said: “Our hospitals in Kunduz province have received 172 injured patients and 16 dead bodies so far”.

SHAPIRO: Well, what does this major development – the Taliban takeover of Kunduz – say about the future of Afghanistan and about the future of the USA role there given that America plans to withdraw nearly all of the troops by next year?

Just three years later, the situation in the West African nation looks a whole lot brighter.

Mass Taliban attacks on Kunduz, as well as on the Musa Qala district center in Helmand province in the south during a bloody fighting season, have taken on broad political and strategic significance and provided the insurgents with a major propaganda boost.

“The Taliban have taken the city but our forces are still putting up resistance in some areas”, Kunduz police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini told AFP news agency, adding that the defenders were still waiting for reinforcements from Kabul.

ISIS first declared their Islamic State in Afghanistan and Pakistan on 26 January this year when rebelling Taliban commanders swore allegiance to leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

When Afghan President Ashraf Ghani took office a year ago, he called on the Taliban and other insurgent groups to join peace talks and end the bloodshed in the country.

The so-called insider attacks incidents when an Afghan soldier or policeman turns his gun on fellow troops have been a serious problem in recent years.

Last year, the Upper House of Afghanistan’s parliament ratified the controversial Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with Washington, according to which about 10,000 American troops would stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014, when the US-led combat mission ended.

It is to be kept in mind that Mullah Mansoor took the charge of Afghan Taliban after the confirmation of death of founding leader of Taliban, Mullah Omar in July.