Midday Roundup: Taliban victorious in strategic Afghan town

Do-over. U.S. forces are once again fighting for an Afghan region they liberated from the Taliban 14 years ago. The Islamic extremists retook the northern town of Kunduz on Monday in a severe blow to Afghan forces attempting to defend the territory. With the help of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, Afghanistan hopes to regain control of the strategic city that serves as a gateway to central Asia. But the air cover probably won’t be enough to give Afghan forces an advantage in the heavily populated area. Troops likely will have to engage the 500 Taliban fighters building-to-building to root them out. Critics say Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s government ignored reports the Taliban planned an attack on Kunduz and failed to protect the city with enough troops to keep it in government hands. Ghani claimed the fighters snuck into the city disguised as civilians and launched their attack from within, making it hard for security forces to differentiate between combatants and civilians. “The problem here is that a traitor enemy had turned the local population into a shield,” Ghani said.

Frenemies. U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to disagree on Syria. The two leaders met privately Monday while attending a United Nations meeting in New York, but not before they sparred openly about Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in speeches before the General Assembly. “When a dictator slaughters tens of thousands of his own people, that is not just a matter of one nation’s internal affairs,” Obama said. “It breeds human suffering on an order of magnitude that affects us all.” But Putin answered Obama’s call for regime change in Syria with a rebuke of the administration’s policies for defeating ISIS: “No one but President Assad’s armed forces and Kurdish militia are truly fighting the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations in Syria.” Russia recently moved soldiers and tanks into Syria to bolster the Assad regime.

Moral appeal. The Green Beret soldier ordered out of the Army for confronting a child rapist in Afghanistan plans to fight his discharge. “Kicking me out of the Army is morally wrong, and the entire country knows it,” Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland said in a statement. Martland and an Army officer got into a physical confrontation with an Afghan police commander accused of repeatedly assaulting a young boy, a common practice among powerful Afghan men. The officer was relieved of command and sent back to the United States. Martland was discharged. The Army denied his subsequent appeal. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., has taken up Martland’s cause and plans to bring the matter before the House Armed Services Committee.

Novices need not apply. Nepalese officials are putting in place new restrictions that will make it harder for inexperienced climbers to join an expedition up Mount Everest. The new rules require climbers to have summited at least one 21,325-foot mountain before attempting Everest, the world’s tallest peak. The changes are supposed to help protect the climbers, who face deadly conditions they might not be prepared for. But it’s also an attempt to slow the hoards of tourists that flock to the mountain every year. Environmentalists and Nepalese officials warn so much human contact is spoiling the pristine mountain, burying the rock face under heaps of garbage the expeditions often leave behind. But discouraging visitors could backfire for the Himalayan country: Tourists spent $508 million there in 2014, supporting 487,500 jobs.

Drink up! Today is National Coffee Day, a faux national holiday just about everyone can embrace. But the nation’s best-known purveyor of caffeine opted out of observances, probably because customers would still line up at its counters bleary-eyed and desperate for their morning jolt. Some other almost-as-popular coffee chains are trying to lure customers away from Starbucks with offers of free liquid energy. Dunkin’ Donuts, Krispy Kreme, and Peet’s Coffee and Tea are all providing gratis joe in honor of the “holiday.”

WORLD Radio’s Mary Reichard contributed to this report.