This past week's bombings in Kandahar mark a shift to urban guerrilla warfare, the Taliban claim.
They have been sending letters to city residents, warning they are about to escalate fighting there, and that anyone caught supporting NATO or the Afghan government will be targeted.
"These kinds of attacks really scare us," Shah Mohammad told CTV News. "Whether the threats are real or not, people stop going out."
Three bombs went off in a single day in Kandahar on Thursday, killing 10 people, purportedly in retaliation for last weekend's killing of senior Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah.
The carnage, after months of relative calm, emptied businesses and put the police on alert.
Esmatullah Alizai, Kandahar's police chief, calls the Taliban claim of a coming offensive to be desperate lies from a desperate group.
"Yes, the enemy has started their operations in the city. it's a change in tactic. but we now know we can stop them," he said.
However, Alizai conceded he's lost dozens of men to suicide attacks.
One reason for the move to the cities has been the air power and artillery advantage enjoyed by NATO and U.S.-led troops.
As a result, the Taliban are moving from the countryside to the city, where such high-powered weaponry can't reach them.
Canada says it has planned for this and has spent millions building lookouts and police stations to help keep the Taliban out of Kandahar's neighbourhoods.
"It improves security because it puts officers on the ground in a more secure environment than what they currently work in," said the RCMP's Const. Henry Coman. "I think overall it's good for the population here."
Kandahar has a growing middle class that longs for normalcy, but they worry about whether it will ever truly become entrenched.
Kandahar is what I would call it, a single pillar of Afghanistan," said city resident Mohammad Naseem.
"Either side knows if they control of this area, they basically have control of the whole world. It's been this way historically."
With a report from CTV's Steve Chao
