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Sunday should have been a good day for Afghanistan. In the afternoon, Bamiyan province became the first to transition to the authority of Afghan security forces.

But a few hours after sundown, two suicide bombers stormed the Kabul home of Jan Mohammed Khan, one of President Hamid Karzai鈥檚 senior aids, killing him and a member of parliament who was visiting. The attack comes less than a week after a gunman shot the president鈥檚 half brother Ahmad Wali Karzai, the principal power-broker in Kandahar, at his home.

As the warm-weather fighting season reaches its peak, the Taliban appear to be carrying out a successful campaign to assassinate high-level officials, particularly those in Karzai鈥檚 inner circle. The assassination campaign is destabilizing the personal patronage networks that run Afghanistan and undermining NATO鈥檚 claims that the situation here is improving.

鈥淭he Taliban wants to put pressure on the government through these assassinations and push the government to accept their demands,鈥� says Mangal Sherzad, a professor of law at Nangarhar University in Jalalabad. 鈥淭he enemy has lost the ability to fight government forces directly, so the second best option for them is to kill important people.鈥�

The Taliban took responsibility for the murder of Mr. Khan, the former governor of Uruzgan province, and a major power-broker in Afghanistan. Khan's family runs a large private militia. Hashim Watanwal, a member of parliament from Uruzgan, was also killed in the attack.

During an interview with the Monitor last Thursday, Mr. Watanwal expressed serious doubts about the future of his country.

鈥淥verall, the security situation is getting worse in Afghanistan. It is out of control of the foreigners and the Afghan government,鈥� he said during a phone conversation. 鈥淪ince the foreign forces started talking about withdraw, it鈥檚 gotten a lot worse.鈥�

Since March, insurgents have also assassinated Gen. Abdul Rahman Sayedkhili, police chief of Kunduz province, Gen. Mohammad Daud Daud, police chief for Northern Afghanistan, and Gen. Khan Mohammad Mujahid, police chief for Kandahar Province.

Though it鈥檚 unclear if the Taliban are responsible for all of these killings, especially Ahmad Wali鈥檚, the Islamist organization says political assassinations are a major part of their campaign this spring and summer.

鈥淭hese kinds of operations will continue and many more people will be targeted,鈥� says Zabiullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesman. 鈥淓ach year our operations have a special focus, and this year the focus of our 鈥楤adar鈥� operations are to assassinate people who say they are popular, but the people actually do not like them.鈥�

Throughout Afghanistan the killings are causing much frustration. Afghans have long blamed Pakistan for providing a haven for those who conduct attacks inside their country. The complaint was given even more traction after US Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May.

There is mounting pressure for the Afghan government to find a way to stop militants from entering the country or address the problem another way.

鈥淯nfortunately the Afghan government was not able to secure its nation and its borders and I think it鈥檚 better for Karzai to resign and make way for a president who can tackle this problem,鈥� says Gul Pacha Majeedi, a member of parliament from Paktya province.