Groups of armed Afghans attacked the Taliban on Friday, driving Afghanistan’s new rulers out of three northern districts, the first assault against the Islamist militants since they swept into Kabul last week and seized control of the government.
Local anti-Taliban commanders claimed in interviews they had killed as many as 30 of the group’s fighters and captured 20 in the takeover of the districts in Baghlan province, just over 100 miles north of the capital. Former Afghan service members were joined in the fight, they said, by local civilians. Images shared online showed celebrations as the red, green and black Afghan national flag — rather than the white flag of the Taliban — was raised over government buildings.
“We have ignited something that is historic in Afghanistan,” said Sediqullah Shuja, 28, a former Afghan soldier who took part in Friday’s uprising. “Taliban fighters had armored vehicles, but people threw stones at Taliban fighters and drove them out.”
Story continues below advertisement
“As long as we are alive,” he said, “we do not accept the Taliban’s rule.”
Friday’s attack is the latest sign of defiance toward the Taliban, ranging from Afghans refusing to fly the white Taliban flag to women protesting to preserve their rights. Together, they illuminate some of the obstacles the Taliban faces as it seeks to form a government deemed acceptable by a broad spectrum of Afghans and by the international community, especially donors.
But whether Friday’s attack is a sign of an emerging new military front against the Taliban remains to be seen.
The Taliban is militarily far superior than its earlier incarnation, which ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001 and was toppled following the U.S.-led invasion.
Multiple people were killed and more than a dozen were injured in anti-Taliban protests in the Afghan city of Jalalabad on Aug. 18. (Reuters)
In just 10 days, the Taliban took control of every provincial capital across the nation, despite the Afghan government wielding a massive U.S.-funded and equipped military, an air force and special commando units.
The Taliban seized the arsenals of Afghan army and police units, including American-made weaponry and armored vehicles. Having been humiliated by the Taliban’s triumph, there is no appetite in the West to fund an insurgency against their rule.
Taliban officials were not immediately available for comment Friday about events in Baghlan. But a tweet from a pro-Taliban account claimed the clashes killed 15 Taliban and wounded 15, and that the Taliban was betrayed after offering amnesty to locals.
“All those who committed this crime must be killed. The doors of conversation are closed,” the tweet read.
Friday’s assault to retake the three districts of Puli Hisar, Dih Salah and Bano — which was confirmed by a former defense minister — came after Taliban fighters conducted house-to-house searches in the Andarab valley of the province, local commanders said.
As in most parts of Afghanistan, the Taliban had taken over the districts with little resistance in recent weeks. Shuja said that the local residents had told the Taliban fighters they can govern as long as they don’t enter their villages and homes.
So when the Taliban came to conduct searches, former Afghan military servicemen, along with civilians, decided to rise up. They drove out the Taliban in less than a day.
“Taliban fighters did not listen to us,” said Shuja, who had left his post in Helmand province when he heard that military units were surrendering en masse to the Taliban. “They came to our houses and harassed people. In our villages, people are very traditional and Muslim. There is no reason for Taliban to come and teach us about Islam.”
Abdul Rahman, 53, a former commander at Baghlan prison, said he mobilized hundreds of local forces and pushed the Taliban out. He said that the uprising left 30 Taliban fighters dead and 20 in custody — claims that could not be independently verified.
Source: The Washington Post
