Lull Prompts Question: What Are Taliban Up To?

By AZAM AHMED, NYT
APRIL 28, 2014

KABUL, Afghanistan — Even as Afghanistan’s unfolding presidential election has captured the capital’s attention, two related questions have become increasingly urgent among security officials here: Where have the Taliban gone, and what are they waiting for?

In the weeks before the voting on April 5, the insurgents threatened mayhem and delivered, largely paralyzing Kabul in a rain of attacks. But the Taliban failed to deliver any attacks in Kabul on Election Day, and since then they have been mostly quiet, at least in the large cities where attacks garner the most publicity.

Some analysts speculate that the Taliban are biding their time until the runoff election in May or June, or are wary of a publicity backlash if they target civilians at all during the voting. Others wonder whether a leadership struggle and infighting have halted major operations. But there are more questions than answers on the issue, even for some commanders within the Taliban.

“We are waiting on the command of the leadership,” said a Taliban commander who goes by the name Sangaryaar and operates along the border of Kandahar and Helmand Provinces in the south. “For the moment we are on standby and have no reason to explain why.”

(More here.)