4 Threat Matrix: Taliban playing nicer?

Written by Tony Prudori on February 27, 2010 3:26 PM to 4 Threat Matrix

Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2010/02/taliban_playing_nicer.php

Are the Taliban really trying to be a kinder, gentler entity? Reuters provides a reminder of the reality of the Taliban:

Taliban fighters opened fire, hurled grenades and staged suicide bombings in central Kabul yesterday, killing at least 16 people in defiance of the Western-backed government and a NATO offensive.

An Italian diplomat and Indian government officials were killed in the assault, the governments said.

Also among the dead were eight Afghans, including three police officers, the Afghan Interior Ministry said. The French Foreign Ministry said one French national had been killed and India's foreign ministry said up to nine Indians were killed ....

And the Taliban's religious legitimacy? This, from analyst Thomas Ruttig in response to the latest Taliban mass attack in Kabul:

Where are those Taliban who have argued a few years ago that the massive use of suicide bombers and the killing of scores of Afghan civilians are 'un-Islamic'? And where are their 'Islamic' credentials when they cause such an atrocity on Muhammad's birthday, one of the holiest days in Muslims' calendar?

Indeed.