The Taliban leadership has publicly announced the launch of their ‘spring offensive’ or Operation Khalid ibn al-Walid - a companion of Islam's Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who became a legendary Muslim military commander known as the "Drawn Sword of God." The insurgents said their forces planned to infiltrate enemy ranks to conduct "insider attacks" and target military and diplomatic sites with suicide bombers.

Green on blue attacks - military term used for attacks by member of Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) on their foreign/national counterparts or mentors – were initially almost neglected and efforts were made to not link planning of such attacks to Taliban. But last year this very trend intensified and took lives of more than 55 foreign troops/civilians in Afghanistan.

The Taliban claim to have placed their fighters and sympathizers into the ranks of ANSF and this year they have announced to further infiltrate the ranks of Afghan security forces. Insider attacks have not been properly prevented and have caused killing of Afghan soldiers and police besides taking life of NATO troops.

Although the Taliban did not rest this winter – as they used to do in the past years – and launched a number of coordinated and deadly attacks across Afghanistan, as weather get warmer their attacks on international and Afghan force is expected to escalate. The first four months of this year has already been bloody especially for the civilians. Scores of innocent people have lost their life this year as a result of insurgents’ attacks in Kabul, Farah, Helmand, Faryab and other provinces of Afghanistan.

The Taliban besides pronouncing the Karzai administration as puppet also interpret the purpose of establishment High Peace Council (HPC) as prolongation of the American presence in Afghanistan. The Afghan government expects the Taliban to announce readiness for peace talks. They, however, continue to announce commitment for continuing the fight against the Afghan government and its international backers.

Intensification of terror attacks by Taliban and failure of Afghan government to counter them result in the worries of the people to grow. The future starts looking bleaker to them. It is expected that insurgency would go on intensifying as Afghanistan nears the next year’s presidential election and complete withdrawal of US-led NATO troops. At such crucial juncture, the top priority for the Afghan government must not be political deal with Taliban but the security of the people of Afghanistan. The ANSF and NATO must bolster their operations to weaken Taliban and protect the life of the people.