Well, it may not be as the Taliban (very credibly) framed the story. This incident is not isolated. Support for the Taliban by the population is very, very low. It reminds me of the way AQ was operating in Anbar in 2006 - they simply went way, way too far with the violence, terror, tyranny, manipulation of Islam and the mosque leaders. This made cooperation with CF and the Baghdad government look attractive in comparison.

I've only been here a couple of weeks, but the feel is very similar.

Perhaps I am too optimistic or conflating insurgencies.