“They just wanted to show their power”
Monday’s Taliban attack in Kabul was show of force more than anything else, according to a political analyst interviewed by Reuters. “It was an ‘attack show’ from the Taliban, not a military-based action,” says Wahid Mudjah. “They just wanted a show for the international community.” And what a show it was; the attacks involved at least ten gunmen and suicide bombers and was very well-coordinated, coinciding with Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s swearing in of cabinet ministers only hundreds of meters away. While the attack was a tactical success, the shortcomings of the Taliban resulted in relatively few casualties; three Afghan security force members were killed along with two civilians, while 71 were injured.