Thousands of Afghan civilians have answered the government’s call to take up arms against the Taliban as the insurgents make rapid territorial gains, officials said.
“People are coming out in the thousands to support the Afghan forces,” Defence Ministry spokesman Fawad Aman told The National. “We are providing them with any support or facilities they need, including weapons, ammunition and food.”
In videos shared on social media about what is being called “the people’s uprising,” civilians are seen receiving weapons, marching and patrolling in cities across the country, including in the northern provinces of Takhar, Kapisa, Baghlan and Balkh where the Taliban have stepped up attacks in recent weeks.
Photos from Jowzjan, another northern province, showed groups of women, some of them in the traditional blue burqas, holding Kalashnikovs after signing up to fight the Taliban.
With Afghan forces under increasing pressure, Defence Minister Bismillah Mohammadi called for civilians to mobilise against the Taliban in one of his first acts after being appointed on June 19.
“The government is ready to provide the necessary support to the people’s forces against the Taliban,” he said during his introductory speech in parliament on Monday.
Despite holding peace talks with the government, the Taliban have stepped up attacks since the US announced in April that it would withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by September. According to the latest data from the Long War Journal, which maps the Afghan conflict, the Taliban control more than 130 of the country’s nearly 400 districts.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that a new US intelligence report estimates that the Taliban could win control of the country’s capital within six to 12 months of the US withdrawal.
With the peace talks in deadlock and the Taliban advancing, many Afghans fear they will lose the freedoms gained since the 2001 US-led invasion toppled the hardline Islamic group’s regime.
Mr Aman said the response to the defence minister’s call was “testimony to how much Afghans dislike the Taliban and do not want to go back to the dark days”.
“We calculated over 2,000 citizens who are armed and fighting against the Taliban” in Balkh alone, he said, and added that the numbers were “increasing day by day”.
Faridullah, a young farmer from Doshi district in Balkh, decided to join the fight after the Taliban seized control of the area on Monday. At 18 years old, he is younger than the Taliban insurgency and said he had never used a gun before.
“It was for defending my land and honour. Together with Afghan forces, we liberated Doshi yesterday,” he said proudly.
Read full report on The National
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