Forces under the command of General
Mohammed Daud Daud rendezvoused with
American Special Forces advisers and advanced on
Taloqan, arriving outside the city on 11 November. There, General Daud persuaded the local
Taliban leader to switch sides, thus capturing the city without firing a single shot. After seizing control of Taloqan, Daud's forces advanced on the city of Kunduz. In an attempt to achieve a victory without relying on US assistance, Daud launched a frontal assault on the city without informing the Americans. The attack ended in a disastrous failure, resulting in the deaths of several hundred Northern Alliance fighters. Following this setback, Daud regrouped his forces and laid siege to the city, this time relying on American air support to weaken the Taliban defenses. For the next eleven days, US warplanes bombarded Taliban positions, destroying 44 bunker complexes, 12 tanks, 51 trucks as well as numerous supply dumps, while inflicting losses of 2,000 killed or wounded. Some Northern Alliance leaders blamed the US for allowing the airlift to occur and expressed a desire for revenge against the foreign fighters who had been inside the city. After the final Taliban surrender on 25 November, reports began to emerge of Northern Alliance fighters looting the city and conducting executions of captured Taliban fighters. The foreign fighters were treated much more harshly than the Afghan Taliban members. The two Taliban commanders that had led the defense of Kunduz, Fazl and Noori, would later be shipped off to the
Guantanamo Bay prison on the island of
Cuba. ==Dasht-i-Leili massacre==