The Associated Press reports that “after inflicting heavy losses on weakened Afghan security forces a year ago, the Taliban under new leadership have been surprisingly slow to ramp up attacks at the midpoint of the traditional fighting season, senior American military officers said Sunday.”  

“In an Associated Press interview, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he is cautiously encouraged by a relative slackening of the Taliban’s aggressive tactics.”  

“Citing ‘a lower level of violence from the Taliban than we have seen in the past,’ Dunford was quick to say that while he believes Afghan forces have seized battlefield momentum, there are no assurances that the balance won’t shift again.”