Taliban violence continues to be meager and uncoordinated. Apparently only a few armed groups of Taliban are in action at any one time, and most of them are Pakistanis don't do anything. Moreover, Pakistani troops on the border have become more cooperative in going after Taliban groups that live in Pakistan, but cross the border to do their dirty work in Afghanistan.
| That'd be virtually all of 'em... |
| You have to have a steady job to live in Afghanistan. Grow poppies or something ... |
Taliban kidnappers of three UN employees continue to demand the release of 26 Taliban fighters. The government refuses to do anything like that and demands that the three UN employees simply be released. The kidnappers continue negotiations, even though several of their deadlines have passed without a response from the government.
| Another extension was announced today. |
The Taliban want to stop reconstruction and foreign aid efforts in Afghanistan, in order to make people more miserable and more willing to support the Taliban cause. Well, at least that appears to be the strategy. Newly elected president Karzai says that the major threat to the well being of Afghans are drug gangs and warlords, not the Taliban.
| Another idea whose time has gone... |
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