Kunduz market reopens as authorities announce: 'This is peace'

Kunduz shopkeepers heeded city officials’ instructions and reopened today, the day after Northern Alliance troops drove the last Taliban fighters out of the city following a two week siege.

‘‘This is peace,’’ the officials announced repeatedly in the central market square as they encouraged merchants to do their part to return calm to the city, which had been the final Taliban stronghold in northern Afghanistan.