KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The new leader of the Afghan Taliban boasted in a phone call with The Associated Press on Friday that the group's three-day occupation of the northern city of Kunduz was a "symbolic victory" demonstrating the insurgents' strength, even as his fighters were fleeing under fire from Afghan government troops.
The Taliban takeover of Kunduz was an embarrassing blow to the government of President Ashraf Ghani, which was trying to determine how a force of several hundred insurgents were able to cause the collapse of several thousand troops defending the city.
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