News Analysis: Taliban launching indiscriminate attacks in Afghanistan

Taliban militants have intensified activities since launching their annual spring offensive on April 24 and since then they have conducted a series of deadly attacks, mostly in the shape of suicide bombings which have claimed the lives of numerous civilians, according to security officials.

However, local political watchers believe that the purpose of the indiscriminate attacks, which often harm civilians is to terrorize people and create distrust between the citizens and the government and eventually perpetuate a perception that the establishment is unable to control security. "The aim of Taliban insurgents conducting indiscriminate attacks and harming civilians is to terrorize people and undermine the government at home and abroad and create a belief that the Afghan administration is unable to bring peace in Afghanistan," political analyst Khan Mohammad Daneshjo told Xinhua on Wednesday. "Creating distrust between people and the government is a victory for the militants,"the analyst, who is also editor-in- chief of the Weekly Abadi publication, maintained.

The Taliban have launched massive and deadly offensives over the past month in Kabul and the provinces and in the latest violent onslaught, they targeted a hotel in Kabul's Wazir Akbar Khan diplomat enclave on Tuesday night.

In the clash which began on Tuesday night and lasted until Wednesday morning, all four attackers had been killed, according to police.

Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi in talks with the media confirmed that four terrorists equipped with suicide vests, hand grenades and assault rifles attacked the Heetal Plaza Hotel, which is frequented by foreigners at 11:00 p.m. Tuesday night. One of them blew himself up next to the entrance of the hotel enabling three others to get inside and begin shooting.

However, the security forces after a standoff lasting several hours, were able to kill all the three attackers and thus saved the lives of the guests and those living in the area.

Taliban militants who have claimed responsibility for the attack on Heetal Plaza Hotel earlier on May 13 in a similar offensive on Park Palace Hotel also in Kabul had killed 14 civilians including nine foreigners and injuring at least six others.

The armed outfit also conducted a deadly suicide bombing in Kabul on May 17 which left three people dead and 17 others injured, while days later on May 25 a suicide car bomb in the southern Zabul province claimed four lives and injured more than 70 other civilians, according to police. "Afghan security forces are capable enough and more experienced to foil terrorist offensives than before and that is why the attackers were killed in a few hours,"the analyst said.

Generally, the Taliban insurgents are of the view that they could defeat the Afghanistan security forces in the absence of NATO-led troops, the analyst said, adding that although the NATO- led forces ended their combat mission in late 2014, the militants have failed to capture a single district.

Taliban militants have intensified their activities amid the government's determined efforts to bring the armed outfit to the negotiating table. "The government's effort to reconcile with the Taliban is meaningless,"Daneshjo said, adding that peace efforts like yesteryear's won't deliver.

The analyst was skeptical about the reported inking of an agreement of cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan intelligence agencies,saying the agreement would benefit Pakistan. "The Taliban, by launching deadly attacks, effectively want to prove their presence in the political and military arena,"human rights activist and spokesman for the Afghan human rights commission Rafihullah Bedar told local media on Wednesday, adding that killing civilians is an inhumane act of cowardly terrorism. Endi