WASHINGTON- Recent Taliban attacks in Afghanistan do not constitute a military resurgence, Rear Admiral John Kirby Pentagon spokesman said.

"It is not a typical for the Taliban around periods of transition in Afghanistan, whether it is an election or now coming up in December the end of the (U.S.) combat mission, for them to try to scare the local populace and terrorize people with sporadic attacks, but those attacks have had no strategic effect," Kirby said during a Defense Department briefing.

The Afghan National Security Forces and police reacted bravely and quickly to each of the attacks, Kirby said, and the Taliban "has not had a strategic impact on the transition that is going on." The 9,800 American troops that will be contributing going forward in Afghanistan will be there to train, advice and assist missions inside Afghanistan, and assist with some counter-terrorism work "that still needs to be done in concert with Afghan forces," he said.

But the International Security Assistance Force mission ends at the end of the month, "and we will transition to a mission of advice and assist for the Afghan National Security Forces," Kirby said. "We will continue to conduct counter-terrorism operations in concert with Afghan national security forces going into 2015," he said. "It is about protecting this country and our citizens from terrorist networks, wherever they are. That is completely different than the combat mission that we have been conducting for 13 years inside Afghanistan." And as the Pentagon noted last week, in 2015, "just being a member of the Taliban does not necessarily make one a target of counter-terrorism activities, unless you are conducting terrorist activities or are a direct threat to our forces or to our Afghan partners," Kirby said.