KABUL – Afghan Taliban have reacted violently to the increased airstrikesin Afghanistan, launching a wave of deadly attacks across the war-torncountry, including in Kabul, in a devastating display of defiance.

The Taliban, by far Afghanistan’s biggest militant group, claimed 472attacks last month alone, the Washington, DC-based terrorism research groupTRAC said, describing the number as ‘unprecedented’ for January.

Combined with increased activity by relative newcomers IS, which has beenexpanding beyond its eastern stronghold, the country appeared to be ‘at aflashpoint almost to the point of no return’, TRAC warned in a new report.

The escalation of the conflict foreshadows a ‘particularly bloody year’,Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center in Washington, DC told AFP,forecasting more Afghan and US casualties.

Afghanistan’s so-called ‘fighting season’ traditionally starts in thespring before easing over the winter when freezing temperatures and heavysnow make combat more difficult.

But in recent years Taliban militants have continued to carry out attacksthroughout the colder months.

This winter has been worse than ever, Borhan Osman, a senior analyst withthe International Crisis Group, said in a report.

‘Afghanistan is suffering more intense violence now than during any otherwinter… since 2001,’ Osman said, highlighting last month’s attacks in thelink>Afghanlink> capitalthat killed more than 130 people in less than 10 days.

– ‘Escalating stalemate’ –

Among the worst of the attacks was an assault on Kabul’s luxuryIntercontinental Hotel on January 20, a terrifying hours-long ordeal whichsaw Taliban insurgents armed with Kalashnikovs and suicide vests chargefrom room to room searching for foreigners.

That was followed a week later by a devastating bombing involving anexplosives-packed ambulance in a crowded street that killed more than 100people, mostly civilians, and also claimed by the Taliban.

‘This looks like a mutually escalating stalemate’ as both sides adapt tothe new tactics of the other, Afghanistan Analysts Network senior analystKate Clark told AFP.

The fighting this winter has been fuelled by more Taliban fightersremaining on the frozen battlefield instead of regrouping in Pakistan,which has long been accused of providing safe havens to the militants –charges Islamabad denies.

Former general and military analyst Attiqullah Amarkhil told AFP thatTaliban fighters had been ordered to ‘move forward instead of going backand forth’ across the border.

‘I have not been to Pakistan for a year and I will not go there,’ MawlawiAhmad, a Taliban commander in the restive southern province of Helmand,told AFP.

The escalation in fighting has all but dashed hopes for peace negotiationswith the Taliban anytime soon.

Trump ruled out talks last month after the spate of attacks, an apparentreversal of the position set out in his Afghanistan strategy.

But Washington is still hoping to bring the Taliban to the negotiatingtable, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan said last week following atrip to Kabul.

Sullivan’s comments come as the link>Afghanlink>capital gears up for the Kabul Processmeeting at the end of February, where the central government is underpressure to present a framework for peace talks.

But expectations for progress are low.

‘There’s no way Kabul, or Washington for that matter, would agree to extendan olive branch to an outfit that is placing explosives in ambulances,’Kugelman said. APP/AFP