WASHINGTON — The Taliban has become a much more potent adversary in Afghanistan by improving its own tactics and finding gaps in the U.S. military playbook, according to senior U.S. military officials who acknowledged that the enemy’s resurgence this year has taken them by surprise.
U.S. rules of engagement restricting the use of air power and aggressive action against civilians also have opened new space for the insurgents, officials said. Western development projects, such as new roads, schools and police stations, have provided fresh targets for Taliban roadside bombs and suicide attacks.
The inability of rising numbers of U.S. troops to protect Afghan citizens has increased resentment of the Western presence and the allegedly corrupt Afghan government that cooperates with it.
As President Barack Obama faces crucial decisions on his war strategy and declining public support at home, administration and defense officials are studying the reasons why the Taliban appears, at least for the moment, to be winning.
In the spring, Obama outlined a broad new direction for the war that he said his predecessor had starved of attention and resources. He changed the military leadership on the ground, asked Congress for additional money and authorized more manpower.
The administration has said that it expects the strategy — still barely off the ground — to show results in a year to 18 months.
But many U.S. officials and their allies feel that they are in a race against time and the determination of a battle-hardened enemy that has learned from its own mistakes and those of U.S. and NATO forces over nearly eight years of combat.
