India is increasingly worried about conventional offensive well-orchestrated operations of a resurgent Taliban and their hold on the fight till broken with air raids and analysts say that these tactics bring back memories of their ascendance in early 1990s.
In the last year, there have been 52 suicide attacks, 36 incidents of kidnapping, 264 mine and 122 rocket attacks in Afghanistan and 2000 people have died in the last eight months alone. The Taliban no longer attacks with small bands in guerilla style but in bands of 70-150 armed with sophisticated assault rifles, mortars, and rockets. In some cases, the Taliban has taken over villages and imposed their parochial ideology before being evicted by Coalition Forces. The attacks have been concentrated in the Kandahar and Halmand provinces, their attacks have increased since the 4500 US troops were replaced by NATO forces. While defense officials expected an increase in attacks, they have been taken aback by the intensity and boldness of Taliban operations.
Counter-intelligence experts say that there are several reasons why this is so:
NATO Forces are defense oriented and do not have experience to proactively and
aggressively attack enemies especially ones engaged in guerilla warfare
With Pakistan not actively engaged in eliminating their revival, the Taliban has used Quetta as a base to reorganize, recruit, train, and plan
As in early 90s, increasing poppy cultivation has funded the Taliban’s revival and do not have to depend on suspicious funding from patrons in the House of Saud
