Afghan security forces continued to battle Taliban in the northern city of Kunduz on April 30 in a bid to push them outside of the city limits.
But after one week of fighting against a Taliban spring offensive in Kunduz Province, government forces were having difficulties pushing militants out of the Gul Tepe district on the northwestern side of the provincial capital.
Meanwhile, up to 2,000 Taliban fighters continued to hold territory in four other parts of Kunduz Province, giving them positions from which to besiege Kunduz city -- including positions to the south of the city where the strategic Kunduz Airport is located.
The governor of Kunduz Province, Mohammad Omar Safi, vowed on April 30 that the provincial capital would not fall to the Taliban.
But he acknowledged that pushing the Taliban back is proving to be difficult without the kind of foreign military support that had been available before December when most NATO and U.S. combat troops withdrew from Afghanistan.