Most Dangerous Trouble Spot In The World Update

Been a while since I did one of these. But this story on the Taliban regrouping in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan made me remember.

The Taliban has regrouped after its initial fall from power in Afghanistan and the pace of its attacks is likely to increase this year, according to a Pentagon report that offers a dim view of progress in the nearly seven-year-old war.

Noting that insurgent violence has climbed, the report said that despite U.S. and coalition efforts to capture and kill key leaders, the Taliban is likely to "maintain or even increase the scope and pace of its terrorist attacks and bombings in 2008."

The Taliban, it said, has "coalesced into a resilient insurgency."

That's just awesome. And Iraq is the catalyst for this for a number of reasons - not only did we bug out when we had the chance to finish the Taliban and Al Qaeda off in the Tora Bora Mountains, but the sophistication of insurgency tactics inside the proving ground of Iraq has certainly migrated east. Suicide bombers were once very rare in Afghanistan and are now commonplace.

The Taliban has, in fact, started to move into the Pakistani city of Peshawar, leading military forces to finally combat them. When the Taliban sits in their mountain hideouts and plans attacks on Afghan targets, the Pakistanis do nothing. When they start to threaten their territory, suddenly it's a problem. I doubt there will be a lot of follow-through on this, though it's the first effort by the new Pakistani government to confront the Taliban instead of placating them.