I would say that I dispute that the Taliban were about to take command of Kandahar City. Of course I'm sure they were in a position to declare that themselves.
In a counter-insurgency, you can't prevent insurgents from being in certain parts of the country, and that's certainly the case in the counter-insurgency we're seeing in Afghanistan. There are insurgents who are operating from time to time in various locations. They do that because they can melt into the background environment, and then they can come back out again when they see fit, be it to conduct an IED attack or some other attack like the recent attack on the Sarposa Prison.
The mere fact that they have a capacity to do that in some areas doesn't mean that they're in a position to take command of the city, and I would dispute the allegation that they were in any position to take command of Kandahar City in 2009.