Afghan President Hamid Karzai has blamed intelligence failures, particularly on the part of NATO forces supporting his government, for the worst coordinated insurgent attacks in 10 years of war.
Mr Karzai's accusation came after an unprecedented 18-hour assault by squads of Taliban militants on government offices, embassies and foreign bases in Kabul and neighbouring provinces.
There were explosions and gunfire in the capital yesterday and overnight before Afghan forces regained control.
The violence heightens fears for the future of the vulnerable nation as NATO prepares to withdraw its 130,000 troops.
The Western alliance, which is committed to pulling out by the end of 2014, put a positive spin on the attacks, hailing the performance of Afghan security forces.
However, Mr Karzai said in a statement: "The terrorists' infiltration in Kabul and other provinces is an intelligence failure for us and especially for NATO and should be seriously investigated."
He praised the rapid response by Afghan security forces, saying it "proved to the people that they can defend their country successfully".
A spokesman for NATO forces said they had provided air support in response to requests from the Afghans.
But Mr Karzai's laying of the major share of the blame on troops whose home countries are already tired of the long war and its enormous cost is unlikely to go down well with his allies.
The attacks in Kabul and neighbouring provinces killed 11 members of the security forces and four civilians and wounded 32 civilians and around 42 security personnel, Mr Karzai said.
36 insurgents were also killed, the interior ministry said.
US dismisses Karzai's claim
The United States said the attacks were likely carried out by Haqqani militants, who operate from sanctuaries in neighbouring Pakistan and dismissed Mr Karzai's claim of an intelligence failure.
"Initial indications are that the Haqqani network was involved in this set of attacks that occurred yesterday in Kabul," Pentagon press secretary George Little said.
"I don't believe this was an intelligence failure. We did sense that something like this might happen," he added.
ISAF labelled the attacks "largely ineffective". However, the fact that so many militants managed to make it through Kabul's so-called "Ring of Steel" checkpoints and attack high-value targets was a propaganda coup for the Taliban.
The US, British, German and Japanese embassy compounds came under fire as militants attacked the city's diplomatic enclave and tried to storm parliament, sparking a gun battle as lawmakers and bodyguards fired back from the rooftop.
Outside the capital, militants attacked government buildings in Logar province, the airport in Jalalabad, and a police facility in the town of Gardez in Paktya province.
The attacks marked the biggest assault on the capital in 10 years of war in terms of their spread and coordination, observers say.
