The Taliban forces are planning a shift of tactics and intend to focus their attacks on Kabul, according to Taliban spokesman Zabiyullah Mujahed. He has said in recent interviews that the Taliban's aim is to put pressure on foreign troops in the Afghan capital and to uproot the Karzai government.

The organisation has started adopting the same tactics being used by insurgents in Iraq. Britain’s new ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, said there were "grounds for concern. This is not a three-year sprint this is a thirty-year marathon".

The Taliban launched an insurgency soon after being removed from power in 2001 by a US-led coalition that had demanded they hand over Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Regular attacks

Since then, the militants have regularly staged attacks in the country's southern and eastern provinces, targeting Afghan and foreign troops with rocket-attacks, firearms and roadside bombs.

President Hamid Karzai has played down the threats of increased attacks in Kabul but he said he was "concerned about the incidents of violence against our people, against our civilians, the incident in Kabul a few days ago was a terrible tragedy, and those in other parts of the country as well."

The civilian deaths are a sensitive issue for President Karzai's government, which is already facing pressure over issues such as rampant corruption and the lack of development. Karzai has repeatedly urged foreign forces to co-ordinate anti-militant operations with his government to avoid civilian casualties.

Dialogue

But the situation has continued to deteriorate and his political opponents accuse him of failing to do enough. For example, the former mujahideen leader, Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai, who was prime minister in the mid-1990s for a short period. Like Karzai, against whom he stood in the last presidential elections, he is a Pashtun leader. He argues in favour of dialogue:

"They must talk with those who are fighting the government militarily and successfully. They must come to the conclusion that they should talk and avoid civilian killings."

Earlier this week, a group of International aid agencies, including Oxfam and Care International, reported that at least 230 Afghan civilians had been killed this year.

The group laid much of the blame on US and NATO actions, saying that the indiscriminate use of force had resulted in the death of innocent civilians. NATO has rejected the accusations, saying it is doing its best to reduce civilian casualties.