The attack, carried out with a captured military Humvee packed with explosives, killed as many as 100 or more soldiers, police and pro government militiamen at a base in Maidan Wardak province west of Kabul. “The Taliban are doing exactly what they want to do and if it goes on like this then one day we will have Maidan Wardak province fall into the hands of Taliban,” said Mohammad Akbar Bakhtyari, the deputy chief of the provincial council. Just hours later, the Taliban confirmed that talks aimed at finding a peace deal had resumed with U.S. officials in Qatar, underlining the strategy adopted by the increasingly invigorated insurgents — an approach their American foes should understand.
