Is Aid Work Working?

Something interesting was reported today, and I'm not sure what to make of it.

About a week ago an Indian working on the construction of a road in the south was kidnapped, a ridiculous demand was made (I think for Indians to stop building Afghan roads and leave immediately), and he was killed. The guys who work on and along the roads (demining, construction, etc.) have been getting picked off on a regular basis by insurgents, so this was horrible but nothing new here.

What was new is that yesterday a Taliban commander went on TV, face covered in a black turban, to deny Taliban responsibility. He said that road building helped the Afghan people and the people who murdered the Indian man were "enemies of Afghanistan."

???

Usually the Taliban claims responsibility for EVERYTHING that goes wrong. If the US Ambassador reported stubbing his toe, they'd take credit for it. The problem is weeding out spurious Taliban claims of responsibility to figure out who the real culprits are. Why aren't they taking credit for this?

It's probably too much to hope for that the Taliban is hearing that the locals are getting annoyed with Taliban attacks hindering reconstruction. But I'm hard-pressed to find other, more sinister motives. There's always a more sinister motive!