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It looks like the Mayor of Kabul is starting to lose control even over Kabul:

The fighting [in Afghanistan] is spreading to places once relatively safe, including the capital and the western and northern parts of the country...

In Kabul, where suicide bombs have killed almost 50 people in two weeks, foreigners are increasingly ordered into "lockdown."

It seems the Taliban, who we defeated six years ago, "never evaporated into thin air." And they're getting stronger:

"One reason for their renewed strength is that the people are more or less amenable to what they are doing and maybe some of the (NATO) bombardments have not been very wisely executed."

Translation: A few too many dead babies and women.

But according to one international observer, the news isn't all bad:

"It's important to emphasise: I don't think the Taliban themselves are wildly popular...I don't think people want Taliban times back."

Or is it? The observer continued:

"[The Taliban's resurgence] is a broad dissatisfaction with what is happening in the country now."

Translation: Compared to us, the Taliban is starting to look pretty good.