Kabul witnessed two suicide attacks in one week. But what made Friday night unique was that the Taliban assailants targeted a protected diplomatic zone, one of the most well secure areas of the capital.
Military analysts have said that, in order to prevent similar attacks, the government must pay more attention to the borders of Afghanistan and must put pressure on intelligence offices to stop attacks before they happen.
These analysts maintain that most of the terrorists operating inside Afghanistan were trained with the help of retired Pakistani Army Intelligence officers.
The attack on Friday at the Lebanese Taverna restaurant, which claimed the lives of 21 civilians, took place in an area considered to be the "green zone" of Kabul, residing next to a number of embassies and the ISAF base in Wazir Akbar Khan.
"The problem is with the intelligence and investigative institutions, who can't prevent the incident before its takes place," military expert General Amrullah Aman said.
Sophisticated attacks such as the one on Friday in which a suicide bomber cleared the way into the restaurant and then a number of insurgents advanced into the restaurant to execute its occupants require immense preparations, starting with transporting weapons and ammunitions.
"They are trained in Pakistan, in Northern and Southern Waziristan with the help of ISI and Al-Qaeda, and then, they are sent to Afghanistan," said Jawed Kohistani, another military expert.
The start of 2014 has seen a bloody few weeks, with the Taliban ramping up attacks. Issues such as the release of prisoners held under suspicion of militancy, the withdraw of foreign forces in December and the upcoming elections in April are the major bellwethers of the year.
In the past, the winter was usually a quiet time in the war, with the fighting season primarily raging from early spring to early fall.
Nazeefa Zaki, Deputy Chairman of Internal Security in the Lower House, claimed it "is all because of the elections, to portray insecurity and prevent people from participating in the elections."
Psychological warfare is at the heart of terrorism, so many believe that bombings in Kabul are a lot more effective for the Taliban than its control of deserts in the South. Catching on to this, the Taliban has been described as trying to target whatever will get the most media coverage.