Kandahar villagers rise up against Taliban

[UmarJustice]

Dozens of Afghan villagers have taken up arms against the Taliban in one of their key southern heartlands, the latest in a series of such uprisings, villagers and officials say.

Analysts caution that the movements could be attempts by local militia leaders to reassert their authority ahead of the 2014 withdrawal of Nato troops, or could be orchestrated as part of a government strategy.

The uprising in Kandahar province, the birthplace of the militants, was launched by a tribal elder at the weekend after the militia threatened to kill one of his sons for joining a US-backed community police force.

Haji Abdul Udood, a tribal chief in the province’s troubled Panjwayi district, said the villagers were fed up with Taliban “atrocities”, including roadside bombings that kill more civilians than troops.

More than 60 youths had joined the movement in just two days, Udood told AFP in Kakaran village, about 10 kilometres (six miles) west of Kandahar city.

In their first encounter with the Taliban on Sunday night - in an attack backed by police - three Taliban were killed and dozens were forced to flee to the mountains, Udood and a police official said. General Abdul Raziq, the provincial police chief in Kandahar, said he had provided the villagers with arms and ammunition. “Right now we are providing training to the villagers. We have provided guns and bullets and we are supporting this,” Raziq told AFP.

He said that the youths taking part in the uprising would be recruited to the Afghan Local Police (ALP), a US-sponsored community police force assigned to fight the Taliban in remote villages. The police chief said the move was effective in the battle against the Taliban and that it could deal the militants with a major blow.

Udood said he started the uprising after the Taliban tried to kill one of his sons, accusing him of joining the ALP.

“I and my eight sons took up our guns and told the Taliban we will fight you. Three other villagers who had lost members of their family to Taliban bombings joined us, more people joined us,” he added.

There were similar uprisings last year in the provinces of Logar and Ghazni south of Kabul and in Laghman in the east, against the Taliban who ruled Afghanistan for five years before being ousted in a US-led invasion in 2001.

In Panjwayi, as in the other uprisings, the villagers said they were fed up with Taliban activities. “In the past few months alone there have been 60 Taliban mine explosions in our village. All have hit civilians,” said one villager in Kakaran, refusing to give his name for fear of reprisals.

“We don’t want this. The Taliban are killing us, not the military forces, so now have taken up arms and either will kill them or they have to leave our village,” the 35-year-old man told AFP.

Allah Dad, one of the first to join Udood and his sons in the anti-Taliban uprising said he was tired of Taliban bombings.

“I was going to my garden one day. The Taliban were planting a mine right on my garden’s entrance. I told him my garden and could kill me. They cursed me and slapped me. I was tired of them. Now I have got gun, I will either kill them or kick them out of my village.”

Kandahar villagers rise up against Taliban | The Nation

 

[zakriaarshad]

Dozens of Afghan villagers have taken up arms against the Taliban in one of their key southern heartlands, the latest in a series of such uprisings, villagers and officials say.

Analysts caution that the movements could be attempts by local militia leaders to reassert their authority ahead of the 2014 withdrawal of Nato troops, or could be orchestrated as part of a government strategy.

The uprising in Kandahar province, the birthplace of the militants, was launched by a tribal elder at the weekend after the militia threatened to kill one of his sons for joining a US-backed community police force.

Haji Abdul Udood, a tribal chief in the province’s troubled Panjwayi district, said the villagers were fed up with Taliban “atrocities”, including roadside bombings that kill more civilians than troops.

More than 60 youths had joined the movement in just two days, Udood told AFP in Kakaran village, about 10 kilometres (six miles) west of Kandahar city.

In their first encounter with the Taliban on Sunday night - in an attack backed by police - three Taliban were killed and dozens were forced to flee to the mountains, Udood and a police official said. General Abdul Raziq, the provincial police chief in Kandahar, said he had provided the villagers with arms and ammunition. “Right now we are providing training to the villagers. We have provided guns and bullets and we are supporting this,” Raziq told AFP.

He said that the youths taking part in the uprising would be recruited to the Afghan Local Police (ALP), a US-sponsored community police force assigned to fight the Taliban in remote villages. The police chief said the move was effective in the battle against the Taliban and that it could deal the militants with a major blow.

Udood said he started the uprising after the Taliban tried to kill one of his sons, accusing him of joining the ALP.

“I and my eight sons took up our guns and told the Taliban we will fight you. Three other villagers who had lost members of their family to Taliban bombings joined us, more people joined us,” he added.

There were similar uprisings last year in the provinces of Logar and Ghazni south of Kabul and in Laghman in the east, against the Taliban who ruled Afghanistan for five years before being ousted in a US-led invasion in 2001.

In Panjwayi, as in the other uprisings, the villagers said they were fed up with Taliban activities. “In the past few months alone there have been 60 Taliban mine explosions in our village. All have hit civilians,” said one villager in Kakaran, refusing to give his name for fear of reprisals.

“We don’t want this. The Taliban are killing us, not the military forces, so now have taken up arms and either will kill them or they have to leave our village,” the 35-year-old man told AFP.

Allah Dad, one of the first to join Udood and his sons in the anti-Taliban uprising said he was tired of Taliban bombings.

“I was going to my garden one day. The Taliban were planting a mine right on my garden’s entrance. I told him my garden and could kill me. They cursed me and slapped me. I was tired of them. Now I have got gun, I will either kill them or kick them out of my village.”

Kandahar villagers rise up against Taliban | The Nation

Achaa g??? barri gall e fer te....

 

[Backbencher]

What is the police doing there ?
I appreciate the stand by the villagers but isnt this the job of the local Police and army .

 

[mughaljee]

Kandahar villagers rise up against Taliban
^
S H U T UP.

 

[Wright]

I doubt it. Taliban is nothing more than Pusthun culture in its raw form. Afghanistan is Taliban.

When the US does leave, Afghanistan will remain a giant headache for it's neighbors hindering their progress.

 

[Backbencher]

I doubt it. Taliban is nothing more than Pusthun culture in its raw form. Afghanistan is Taliban.

When the US does leave, Afghanistan will remain a giant headache for it's neighbors hindering their progress.

Ah...ha that is so 2000 .
Today the people of Afganistan have realised that their is nothing kept in war , talibanism . More and more parents are willing to send their children in school which is a big deal for a country like Afganistan .
Now for economic assistance and loans Afganistan can always look forward to India afterall its our neibhour .

 

[jbond197]

I doubt it. Taliban is nothing more than Pusthun culture in its raw form. Afghanistan is Taliban.

When the US does leave, Afghanistan will remain a giant headache for it's neighbors hindering their progress.

You are wrong on 3 counts
a) you can't blame it on culture because you don't know that pakhtuns are very nice people simple easy to manipulate.
b) not all pakhtuns are Taliban only the ones who manipulated in1989 and later are

c) there are other communities apart from pakhtuns in afghanistan.

 

[Norboo]

Pakistani analysts are under the mistaken impression that all will be hunky dory and a cake walk after the American withdrawal. This cannot be farther from the truth. It's going to be a gawd-almighty mess with not only local rival factions wanting a piece of the cake but also countries with bigger stakes in Afghanistan's wealth - Russia, America, China, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the Central Asian Republics.

And that's bad news for Pakistan due to the inevitable spillover effect.

 

[zamindawari]

What is the police doing there ?
I appreciate the stand by the villagers but isnt this the job of the local Police and army .

This statement demonstrates severe deficiency of knowledge into the inner workings of Afghan society and culture at large. Until very recent times, the concept of "police" were alien and unknown in the vast majority of Afghanistan. In Pashtun society, when a problem arises, the masharan meet and hold a jirga to decide what must be done. If any form of military action is required, a lashkar is formed and action is taken. The alleged "police" that exist today are the creation of US and NATO invaders and are among the most impotent, ineffective and corrupt excuses for a "police force" that exist on this planet.

you can't blame it on culture because you don't know that pakhtuns are very nice people simple easy to manipulate.

This statement reveals that this individual likely has little to no experience with Pashtuns or tribal Afghan society in general. While this does, however, seem to be a rather widespread view among allegedly "educated" Indic people east of the Indus, it's sentiment lies rather far from reality.

 

[ExtraOdinary]

good stuff by afghan villagers

 

[indian_foxhound]

good news