As part of the Taliban's strategy to show that it can strike anywhere, four attackers detonated suicide vests on Saturday at the gates of Panjshir's Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), a civil-military NATO outfit.
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In the first suicide attack in Panjshir since the war began in late 2001, Taliban bombers targeted the only foreign military presence in the province, killing two drivers and wounding two guards.
Panjshir, a predominantly ethnic Tajik area handed from NATO control to Afghan forces in July, was a hotbed of resistance against the Soviets and then the Taliban -- the Islamists failed to control the valley during their 1996-2001 rule over Afghanistan.
"We did not think that the Taliban could gain access to the Panjshir," said Haroun Mir, an Afghan analyst who was a close associate of the region's legendary commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, known as the "Lion of Panjshir".
The region holds no strategic assets, and Saturday's attack resulted in limited damage, despite Taliban claims to the contrary.
"The Taliban could have used these means in Kabul against higher targets," said Mir. But he added: "This attack is an indication that the Taliban can strike anywhere."
The symbolism of four suicide bombers gaining access to a relatively peaceful valley where most residents are fiercely opposed to Taliban rule is significant.
"Security in the Panjshir in the past has falsely led the government to believe that the Taliban are not able to destabilise the province because people are hostile to them," according to writer and analyst Waheed Mujda.
"But with this attack they wanted to prove they can reach all parts of the country anytime."
Claiming the attack on their website, the Taliban said it showed that NATO "is no longer safe anywhere in the country".
The target was made more symbolic by the fact that in July Panjshir became one of the first seven areas of the country where NATO forces transferred responsibility for security to Afghans.
"The Taliban want to show the world that Afghans are unable to take responsibility for their own safety," said another analyst, Saeed Ahmad.
The Panjshir attack is the latest in a series by the Taliban in recent months against targets that are sensitive or of high symbolic value, to strike fear into ordinary Afghans' minds and discredit the government that is meant to assume control of safety throughout the country by the end of 2014.
It also follows a trend since 2007 of the Taliban expanding their operations from their traditional ethnic Pashtun strongholds in the south and east of Afghanistan into the non-Pashtun north.
The Taliban claimed in their statement that the suicide bombers in the attack were from Panjshir themselves, implying they have gained a foothold in a province that has been traditionally overwhelmingly hostile to their presence.
But provincial police chief Qasim Jangalbagh said there was no information to suggest that the bombers were locals.
