By Syed Saleem Shahzad
Asia Times
"KARACHI - After the Taliban's successful spring offensive there are calls from Kabul for reconciliation with them, indications from the US and recognition of the fact from Pakistan that without striking a major deal with the Taliban, there can be no peace and stability in Afghanistan.
The Taliban, though, forced out of power by the US-led invasion of 2001 for harboring Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, are already planning for next year's offensive, the central aim of which is to retake Kandahar, their previous spiritual capital.
Afghans know their traditions well and are aware that the current insurgency has the ability to turn into a mass rebellion against foreign forces, but most people do not know exactly how this will happen.
Asia Times Online traveled deep inside Taliban territory to get some answers.
Huge swaths of the Pashtun heartland in southwestern Afghanistan are now sympathetic to the Taliban-led resistance against foreign troops and the Hamid Karzai-led administration in Kabul. The Taliban have strongholds in most villages and they prove their presence through daily attacks. More than 4,000 people, mostly civilians, are believed to have died in fighting this year, including more than 100 foreign soldiers.
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