The Taliban strategy

Washington Times:

The Taliban will wage its fiercest campaign of attacks in the coming months in an attempt to hamper the transfer of security duties in Afghanistan from the U.S. military to NATO, Kabul's ambassador in Washington says.
"During the upcoming months, the Taliban will resort to the utmost violence to prevent reconstruction and discourage NATO countries from further deployment," Said Jawad told The Washington Times.
More than 300 people have been killed and thousands displaced in the past two weeks as Taliban insurgents, with the help of al Qaeda allies, stepped up the frequency and sophistication of attacks for a summer fighting season.
Mr. Jawad estimates that 20 to 25 heavily armed militias are operating in five southern provinces with 3,000 to 5,000 men bent on testing the resolve of Western forces.
A continued "spike in terrorist activity" is likely, "especially where NATO troops are scheduled to be deployed," he said.
The swell of Taliban activity coincides with a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from militant strongholds in the south, where NATO forces have begun assuming security operations.
The multinational force, led by Britain and Canada, will boost troop strength to about 21,000 from 9,000 by July, while the United States plans to draw down its 23,000-strong presence by 6,500.

...

I think the Taliban perceive that the NATO troops and the committment of the NATO countries are weaeker than the US. They hope to create casualties that will create polical calls for retreat. However, the NATO troops, including the Candians, have handled themselves well and have along with the Afghan forces defeated the Taliban in every engagement. The Taliban are attreting their own forces and inflicting few casualties on the NATO forces so far. The fundamental weakness of the Taliban is their inability to mass forces without suffering mass casualties. That accounts for the lopsided casualty figures than many inthe media try to mask by lumping casualties for both sides together.