FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA As the US rushes to the exits two decades after invading Afghanistan, the Taliban surges [Los Angeles Times :: BC-AFGHAN-TALIBAN:LA] KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – When Taliban insurgents attacked Sangsar village in late October, they were fighting for lost ground again within their reach. Fighters besieged the mud-walled town, ringed by corn and cannabis fields. They gunned down six police officers who had run out of ammunition after three days of fighting. “It was the first time in many years they were that strong,” said Raqya Aslam, a 30-year-old villager. It was in Sangsar, 25 miles outside the southern city of Kandahar, that the Taliban movement was founded in 1994 by a one-eyed local cleric. A decade ago, Taliban fighters waged a hit-and-run insurgency against U.S. and Afghan troops on the town’s unpaved streets and winding paths.