KABUL, Afghanistan — Over the past couple of months, as American and Taliban negotiators have resumed talks to try to complete a peace deal, an unusual calm has settled over major Afghan cities. Deadly terrorism attacks, once frequent, have suddenly dropped in urban centers.

But a series of bloody assaults in the countryside suggests that the calm in the cities could be misleading. The war continues to kill dozens daily. And the patterns of violence in recent months have been tied closely to how negotiations between the United States and the Taliban, held in the Gulf state of Qatar, have played out.

With talks now seeming to bog down, some diplomats and political leaders fear that violence could grow deadlier — even if much of it plays out in the countryside, away from the headlines.

The sticking point in the negotiations: What reduction in violence is needed to move the peace process forward? The negotiators’ ultimate goal is the gradual withdrawal of American troops, and the establishment of talks between the Taliban and other Afghans over power-sharing.