US soldiers inspect the site of a suicide attack in Mihtarlam, the capital of Laghman province
U.S. soldiers secure the site of a suicide attack in Mehterlam, the capital of Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009. A Taliban suicide bomber detonated his explosives as Afghanistan's deputy chief of intelligence visited a mosque east of Kabul on Wednesday, killing the Afghan official and 22 others.
Afghan police and officials inspect a damaged vehicle at the site of a suicide attack in Mihtarlam
Afghan men carry the body of a civilian for burial after he was killed in a suicide attack in Mehterlam, the capital of Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009. A Taliban suicide bomber killed Afghanistan's deputy chief of intelligence during a visit to a mosque in the attack that left 23 others dead.
Afghan police officers carry the injured in a suicide attack in Mehterlam, the capital of Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009. A Taliban suicide bomber detonated his explosives as Afghanistan's deputy chief of intelligence visited a mosque east of Kabul on Wednesday, killing the Afghan official and 22 others.
Map showing provinces in Afghanistan with the largest Taliban presence.
An Afghani man passes by the site of a suicide attack in Mehterlam, the capital of Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009. A Taliban suicide bomber detonated his explosives as Afghanistan's deputy chief of intelligence visited a mosque east of Kabul on Wednesday, killing the Afghan official and 22 others.
An Afghan police officer walks near a damaged vehicle after a suicide attack in Mehterlam, the capital of Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009. A Taliban suicide bomber detonated his explosives as Afghanistan's deputy chief of intelligence visited a mosque east of Kabul on Wednesday, killing the Afghan official and 22 others.
Afghan men offer funeral prayers behind the bodies of civilian killed in a suicide attack in Mehterlam, the capital of Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009. A Taliban suicide bomber detonated his explosives as Afghanistan's deputy chief of intelligence visited a mosque east of Kabul on Wednesday, killing the Afghan official and 22 others.
Two devastating suicide attacks in Afghanistan in the fortnight since elections show the Taliban is penetrating ever deeper in its war against the Kabul government and its international backers.
Insurgents are taking advantage of the government's inability to provide security to spread their tentacles from areas where they have long held sway.
An attack on Wednesday that killed the country's deputy spy chief, three other officials and 20 civilians, showed "a serious crisis threatening the government," said analyst Ahmad Sayedi, a former politician and diplomat.
"This shows the failure of the Afghan security institutions -- especially the intelligence services," he said.
The Taliban claimed the attack in Mihtarlam, capital of eastern Laghman province, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying deputy head of the National Directorate of Security, Abdullah Laghmani, was the target.
The city is just 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Kabul and equidistant from the Pakistan border.
The attack came eight days after a massive truck bomb in southern Kandahar killed more than 40 people, injured another 60 and devastated the city centre in the deadliest militant attack for more than a year.
The Taliban have waged a vicious campaign around elections held on August 20, which appears to have successfully kept turnout low.
Poll results are being released gradually, with incumbent Hamid Karzai leading challenger Abdullah Abdullah in a race tainted by fraud that threatens to undermine its credibility.
"The government is paralysed by bribery, drugs and incompetence," said Sayedi.
Corruption watchdog Transparency International rates Afghanistan the world's fifth most corrupt nation.
The Taliban have been retreating from military engagement and escalating terrorist-type attacks and gorilla type of war. Hit and run , and to disrupt military and government initiative. Also to strike terror on the citizen.Taliban use of improvised explosive devices, or hidden roadside bombs, against foreign troops has been devastating, facilitating insurgent expansion.
"They are moving from their bases in Helmand to other parts of the country, north and west," said analyst Sayedi of the insurgents.
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