Next the rebel faction that had previously shown the most interest in peace talks conducted a suicide attack in Kabul that killed 12 people. The group, Hizb-e-Islami, said the bomber was a young woman named Fatima.
Then it was revealed that NATO would be suspending the majority of joint operations with Afghan forces because of the growing number of foreign troops being gunned down by their local colleagues.
In his 2009 speech announcing the surge, Obama declared "a more effective civilian strategy" would accompany the additional military personnel, telling the Afghan government, "we expect those who are ineffective or corrupt to be held accountable".
But Abdul Satar Saadat, a Kabul-based analyst, criticized the US for not following through on this. He said the Afghan parliament had shown some signs of growing strength, but claimed warlords continued to dominate the political scene.
"Besides the invasion and the occupation this was another excuse used by the Taliban to receive the support of the people," he said.
There are still roughly 68,000 American troops in Afghanistan, compared to the 32,000 that were here when Obama first took office. Since 2001, more than 2,000 US troops have died in the war.
Although there is an acknowledgement among officials in Washington that some kind of insurgency is likely to continue for years to come, they insist the government here will be capable of defending itself and rule out any chance of the rebels seizing power.
Many Afghans see the situation differently and are terrified about what the future could hold.
Rana Tarin is a senator for Kandahar province where, she told GlobalPost, the surge has improved security. Now she fears those gains will soon be lost as the Taliban seek to reassert themselves in their traditional heartland.
"Before there was killing every single day: assassinations, attacks on police stations, suicide attacks. Right now there has been a large decrease but that does not mean we have solved our problems 100 percent," she said.
"Because they are very tired of fighting, the Kandahari people think that any day they do not lose a member of their family or hear an explosion in the city is good."
In some form or other the defeat of the Soviet Union haunts everyone here. The US and its NATO allies are desperate to avoid a similar debacle and the citizens of this country remember all too well what fate awaited them the last time they were left to fend for themselves.
"A lot of blood was spilled, Afghans were massacred and a lot of them went outside as refugees," Tarin said. "Again there is a worry the same things will happen."
