The Taliban, carrying out one of the deadliest attacks of Afghanistan's 17-year insurgency just hours before new peace talks began, has rammed home its message that it intends to reach any settlement from a position of strength on the battlefield.

The attack, carried out with a captured military Humvee packed with explosives, killed several dozen soldiers, police and pro-government militiamen at a base in Maidan Wardak province, west of Kabul. The base had been run by the National Directorate for Security, the country's main spy agency.

"The Taliban are doing exactly what they want to do, and if it goes on like this then one day we will have Maidan Wardak province fall into the hands of Taliban," said Mohammad Akbar Bakhtyari, the deputy chief of the provincial council.