President Muhammad Ashraf Ghani says that abuse of civilians by terrorists caused the Kundoz province fall into the Taliban’s hands because they were not able to bombard Kundoz residents.

Ghani vowed to take the northern city back from the insurgents, urging his nation to trust Afghan troops to do the job.

He noted that security forces are “retaking government buildings … and reinforcements, including Special Forces and commandos are either there or on their way there.”

“The enemy has sustained heavy casualties,” said Ghani, who marked his first anniversary in office on Tuesday. He urged his nation to trust Afghan troops and not give in to “fear and terror.”

The fall of the city coincides with the first anniversary of President Ashraf Ghani’s national unity government coming to power, as it struggles to rein in the ascendant insurgency.

Afghan troops launched a counter-offensive Tuesday to retake Kunduz, a day after Taliban insurgents overran the strategic northern city in their biggest victory since being ousted from power in 2001.

Gun battles erupted and Humvees rolled through the city as Afghan security forces, who had retreated to the outlying airport after the fall, began a counter-strike backed by reinforcements.

“Our main problem is that the enemy is using civilians as shields,” President Ghani said. “We have predicted that this year will be the most challenging year for our forces, unfortunately our prediction was true.”

Deputy Interior Minister Ayoub Salangi said earlier that security forces were ready to retake the city and vowed to investigate how the Taliban managed to seize a major urban centre for the first time in 14 years.

The defence ministry on Tuesday claimed that the police headquarters and city prison had been retaken, after marauding insurgents freed hundreds of prisoners including some Taliban commanders.

The Taliban took the strategic northern city of Kunduz on Monday in a surprise multi-pronged attack that kicked off before dawn.

It was the first major urban area to fall to the Taliban since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and marks an escalation of the insurgency.

Afghan security forces have been sorely tested this year, following the withdrawal at the end of 2014 of international combat troops.

Army and police have suffered huge casualties and their resources have been spread thinly across the country as the Taliban have taken their fight to topple the Kabul government to every corner of the country.

Kunduz is one of the largest and wealthiest cities in Afghanistan, and the surrounding province, also called Kunduz, is one of the country’s chief breadbaskets and has rich mining assets.

It lies on a strategic crossroads connecting Afghanistan to Pakistan, China and Central Asia.