The attack in Jalalabad comes as many Afghans are hiding at home or trying to flee the country as allegations of abuses by the loosely controlled militant organization grow.

The Department of Defense intends to evacuate 22,000 Afghans with special immigrant visas, as well as their relatives, but the pace so far has been slow.

In some of the now-disabled Agriculture Department posts, several contained details that would clearly be viewed by the Taliban as proof of collaboration, such as names and photos.

The Afghan security forces turned out to be hollow, equipped with superior arms but largely missing the crucial ingredient of combat motivation.