Kabul – An increasing trend of armed opposition toward the Taliban is sweeping across Afghanistan, even to the territories that were once regarded as the safest strongholds of the present government.
Following a sequence of organized assaults mainly in the north, the Taliban members are currently feeling threatened in their traditional stronghold, a major change in the security picture of the country.
The Incident in Maiwand
The most recent and notable event occurred on Friday evening in the Maiwand district of Kandahar province. Attacks conducted in Kandahar are especially symbolic and destabilizing since the Taliban has traditionally been the birthplace and spiritual center of the terrorist organization.
It is reported that a top Taliban official, Abdul Jamil, was shot by unknown gunmen in a village. The victim was said to be one of the main personalities in the Taliban organization and was on leave in his hometown of Kandahar.
An Unclaimed Act of Resistance
The assassination of Abdul Jamil is an indication that anti-Taliban forces are becoming more able to carry out targeted attacks on high-profile targets even in the most fortified regions of the movement.
The assassination is a general pattern in which armed groups in Afghanistan, like the National Resistance Front (NRF) and the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF), have been taking ownership of the targeted killing of Taliban fighters and officials.
But in this particular instance, no action has so far taken responsibility for the attack. The absence of an immediate claim does not diminish the effect of this incident, which is quite powerfully used to demonstrate the existing instability and the enlargement of the zone of influence of the resistance movement due to its will to ruin the image of unconditional security that the Taliban tries to promote.
The killing is a stark warning that no single territory in Afghanistan is above the wave of local hatred and organized defiance.
