Taliban surge an ‘existential crisis’ for Afghan gov’t: Watchdog

SIGAR report says Taliban attacks on Afghan targets surged from 6,700 in early 2020 to 13,242 by the end of the year.

The Afghan government faces an “existential crisis” after the Taliban doubled its attacks following the February 2020 deal with the United States, a watchdog report says. The report (PDF), published on Thursday, said Taliban attacks on Afghan targets surged from 6,700 in the three months up to the Doha agreement to 13,242 in the September-November 2020 period. Attacks have stayed above 10,000 in each subsequent three-month period, according to the report by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).