Emboldened by their recent three-day occupation of Kunduz, the first Afghan city to fall to the Taliban since their ouster from power in 2001, insurgents have made brazen attempts to overrun several other provincial centres, from Ghazni in the south to Maimana in the north, AFP reports
Seen previously as a rural militant movement capable only of hit-and-run attacks on cities, the Taliban's aggressive campaign to capture major urban areas reveals a highly potent insurgency that poses a crucial test for Afghanistan's overstretched NATO-backed forces.