America's strategy in Afghanistan and the debate surrounding it has largely focused the Pashtun south while taking the northern provinces somewhat for granted. Recent developments including today's bombing in Faryab that killed four Norwegian members of the ISAF and multiple attacks against German troops in Kunduz threaten to change this.

In a new report on the resurgence of the Taliban in the across the north, veteran Afghanistan watchers Antonio Giustozzi and Christoph Reuter argue that these attacks are part of a broader strategy to threaten the ISAF's supply lines and put pressure on European members of the coalition:

The Taleban appear to have a clear strategy aimed at also destabilising northern Afghanistan. Moving north strengthens their claim to be the legitimate government of Afghanistan and to be fighting for the whole country, not just for a particular region or ethnic group. Furthermore, there is no doubt that the psychological impact of the north’s destabilisation upon Western Europe and the US would be considerable, overstretching resources as well as reducing the recruitment pool of Afghan army and police, by enabling the Taliban to intimidate the families of the volunteers.

(Full report here)

The clip above from the BBC's Dispatch series paints a vivid picture of a group of extremists based in the northern province of Baghlan struggling to build bombs, stay awake during nighttime raids and learn the Koran. Most of the footage was originally shot in 2009. It seems that these groups have improved significantly over the past year.