Taliban Reclaiming Afghanistan

The Taliban is rapidly regaining control of Afghanistan, according to a report released by the Senlis Council, an independent think tank. The insurgency has established a permanent presence in 54% of the country, including "important road arteries," and the Taliban's goal of reaching Kabul in 2008 seems "more viable than ever," the report concluded.

The Taliban is currently exercising a "significant amount of psychological control, gaining more and more political legitimacy in the minds of the Afghan people who have a long history of shifting alliances and regime change," said the Senlis paper. In a separate report Oxfam warns that deteriorating security and government corruption are adding to a "humanitarian disaster" facing millions of Afghanis. (More Afghanistan stories.)