Editorial: Old tactics, new weapons for the Taleban

The Taleban, in claiming to have trained 200 suicide bombers, have launched a psychological war which is being taken seriously by ordinary people. By conducting a number of suicide attacks in the recent weeks, the militants have demonstrated their capacity to continue the insurgency. The new weapon of suicide attacks is in fact just the old tactic of brutalising people. It presents a new security challenge to the government and the foreign troops stationed in the country. It also undermines a prediction made two weeks ago by the head of the commission for peace and national reconciliation that more of the Taleban, including key figures, would surrender to the government. Both the government and its armed opponents are attempting to divert public attention away from reality: the government is procrastinating on a military or political solution to the mayhem, while the militants are using new tactics in an endeavour to revive their presence in the military and political arena. The Taleban’s use of the new weapon of suicide attacks raises the question of whether militants are losing their capacity to fight a guerrilla war, or whether they are copying the tactics used by Iraqi insurgents against US forces.