April 24, 2006: Police in Afghanistan noticed that the Taliban's favorite form of motorized transportation was the motorcycle, usually Japanese models. So now the police are going after unregistered motorcycles, as the ones used by the Taliban generally don't bother with registration. Actually, in the back country, many people don't bother with much government paperwork at all. That's now changed, and the police are trying to deny the Taliban one of their more effective forms of transportation. At the very least, this will force the Taliban to get real, or false, documentation for their bikes.

 

In 2003, the Taliban bought 1,150 such bikes in Pakistan, preparatory to staging a new offensive. Many Taliban attacks, including bombings (suicide and otherwise) as well as killings, have been carried out by men on motorcycles. Groups of men on bikes will make attacks, and then speed off, and often get away, by going off the roads, and up trails that normally only carry horses or people on foot.