The closer the US gets to withdrawing its forces, the bolder the Taliban gets in its attacks.

The Telegraph:

Suicide bombers stormed a government compound during a security meeting and killed at least 19 in the latest attempt to assassinate a senior official of Hamid Karzai's regime.

As many as 34 more were wounded in an attack on the governor of Parwan's compound in what witnesses said was a highly-organised assault.

The attack began with a car bomb at the front gate which blew a hole in the wall and allowed five suicide bombers, some wearing police uniform, into the compound in the market town of Charikar.

They struck as the governor, Abdul Basir Salangi, hosted a security meeting reportedly attended by several Nato advisers.

During more than an hour of fighting two assailants were able to reach the governor's building itself before they were killed.

None made it to the meeting room, officials said, and Mr Salangi and the advisers were unharmed. The dead numbered five policemen and more than a dozen civil servants.

It is getting to be a very unhealthy proposition to be an ally of the Afghan president.