"When the operation began, the leaders of the Taliban fled to neighboring provinces and other areas. Others simply hid their weapons and blended in with the local population," said Abdul Wahid Omarkehl, administrative chief in the Char Darah district in Kunduz province.

"Now, they have just taken their weapons back out again and those who fled to neighboring provinces have come back after the end of the operation."

It was the biggest offensive by the German military in Afghanistan so far. Around 300 Bundeswehr troops, alongside 900 Afghan security forces, were seeking to push back Taliban-led insurgents in the northern province of Kunduz ahead of the country's presidential elections on August 20.

The Char Darah district is one of the most unstable parts of northern Afghanistan. German troops there continuously face attacks and ambushes.

NATO expects more trouble for Kunduz

On Sunday, Stanley McChrystal, head of the NATO ISAF troops, said he was very concerned about the development in the previously calm north, warning that the Taliban were pushing to expand their strongholds in the south of Afghanistan across the entire country.

Thomas Ruttig is with the Afghanistan Analysts Network and the Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin. He told Deutsche Welle that the crucial part of the Bundeswehr mission to remove the Taliban from Kunduz would not be to force them out, but rather to stop them from returning.

"It's like a balloon you fill with water. If you press one part of it, the bubbles come out at some other place," he said.

"And that's the modus operandi of the Taliban, which on the other hand also shows that neither the Afghan nor the international forces are able to control the whole territory of Afghanistan, so there are always backdoors open for the Taliban."

German offensive not in vain

But Abdul Wahid Omarkehl says that, despite the Taliban's resurgence, the German-led offensive was not in vain.

"If the military is present and conducts operations like these, then this is a way of forcing the Taliban to disperse. It takes 20 days or even a month until they can regroup and regain strength. And that's why such operations make sense," he said.

"If there could be another such offensive just ahead of the presidential poll, then we'd be able to conduct elections properly in the unstable districts."

Across Afghanistan, NATO troops are trying to ensure a safe setting for the upcoming elections. The Taliban have called upon Afghans to boycott the polls and instead take up arms against the western troops. Over the weekend ISAF troops once again suffered heavy casualties. At least nine foreign soldiers were killed in the first two days of August.

ai/dpa/Reuters/AFP
Editor: Susan Houlton