KABUL: The biggest coordinated attack on the Afghan capital in 10 years of war has shaken a vulnerable nation facing the withdrawal of a huge force of NATO troops within two years.
NATO has hailed the response of Afghan forces, who are progressively taking over responsibility for security across the country, but analysts say that at the least there was a serious failure of intelligence ahead of the attack.
For 18 hours, squads of Taliban militants who had infiltrated the capital and taken up strategic positions in three locations fired on government buildings, embassies and foreign military bases before all 15 were killed.
A total of 47 people died, including 36 militants, and some 65 were wounded in Kabul and three neighbouring provinces where government and military targets also came under synchronised attack.
"That they did manage to pull off simultaneous complex attacks shows quite a level of sophistication in preventing detection... so that would be a failure in intelligence," said Martine van Bijlert of the Afghanistan Analysts' Network.
"But having said that, in a big bustling city like Kabul it is incredibly difficult to stop this type of attack," she said.
NATO, which is committed to pulling its 130,000 troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014 whatever happens militarily, was naturally looking for the positives out of the attack.
"I am enormously proud of how quickly Afghan security forces responded to (the) attacks in Kabul," said General John Allen, commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
"They were on scene immediately, well-led and well-coordinated. They integrated their efforts, helped protect their fellow citizens and largely kept the insurgents contained."
His praise was echoed by US ambassador Ryan Crocker, who said the ability of Afghan security forces to respond to the attacks was a "clear sign of progress".
But a Western diplomat with security expertise told AFP: "I don't share at all the optimism of NATO or the Americans: the Afghan forces just reacted to several attacks as they are in charge and did their duty, at the end with the help of American Black Hawks.
"It's true that they did it better than in the past there is progress but still, to build up so many attacks and being able to launch them simultaneously demonstrates clearly (the Taliban's) ability to strike where and when they want," he said on condition of anonymity.
For Afghans themselves the assault was not unexpected but was "shocking in terms of the scale of the attack and in terms of being very well-coordinated in different cities simultaneously," said Abdul Waheed Wafa, director of the Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University.
"It shook the confidence of the Afghan people in their national security forces, especially as they were hearing from the foreign forces and their government over the last couple of months that the Taliban had 'lost their momentum'," he told AFP.
ISAF has dismissed the Kabul attacks as "largely ineffective" and it is a fact that no major damage or casualties were inflicted on the main targets embassies, military bases and government institutions.
But the Taliban, which claimed the attacks as the start of their annual spring offensive marking the beginning of the Afghan fighting season, will relish the propaganda victory in simply being able to penetrate Kabul's "Ring of Steel".
"It's a pure guerilla tactic, which shows their will and determination to strike symbolic targets, to get the maximum impact in the media," said a second Western diplomat, describing the attacks as a "very ill omen for the future".
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