Kandahar Slips Back Into Taliban Hands

Taliban forces using massive car bombs and threatening letters have slowly retaken Kandahar, reports the Washington Post. The Taliban's resurgence in Kandahar, its spiritual home, presents a complex problem for US and UN forces, both scrambling to find enough troops to stabilize the city. In many ways, Kandahar stands for the entire Afghanistan struggle. "We simply do not have enough resources to address the challenges there," said a senior US military official.

Afghanistan's second-largest city has a largely ineffective government, nonexistent public services, rampant unemployment, and police officers known as looters and kidnappers. Militants operate freely in the city. Many senior military strategists believe stopping Taliban gains will require a comprehensive counterinsurgency effort. (More Kandahar stories.)