New Wave of Brazen Attacks in Afghanistan

What struck me about this article was the increasing daring and plotting of the Taliban forces in getting close to our soldiers or those allied to us, and then being able to carry out these assassinations.  These men are disguising themselves as Afghan troops, down to their uniforms, and once they succeed in bypassing security, either start shooting or detonate the explosive that's strapped to them.  These are all recent events, happening in the past week or so.  Of course, this is being minimized and shrugged off by U.S. and Afghan officials, with them saying that having to resort to these assassinations is a clear indicator that rebel forces are no longer capable of launching large-scale attacks against our forces.  This might be somewhat assuring, if they weren't so successful at it.