News - Afghanistan

Dozens of residents in western Ghor and Badghis provinces are fighting against the Taliban in their districts after the militants killed innocent people and refused to obey the law.

Residents said that they took up arms against the Taliban because of the number of innocent people being killed and their refusal to surrender to government laws.

One resident of Ghor told TOLOnews: "We don't want the Taliban insurgents in province. They are killing our innocent people. We want to drive them out."

The resident said that the uprising to clear out insurgents first began a month ago in Chaghcharan, the capital of Ghor province, and it is continuing.

The head of Ghor provincial council Ramazan Akhundzada called on the government for more support.

"The government should support them to clear the province of Taliban insurgents, and this is a good tool to remove them from the battle fields," he told TOLOnews.

Meanwhile, in Badghis province, residents of the Qads and Jawand districts have also taken up arms against Taliban insurgents.

The residents of the district called on the Taliban that "if they didn't surrender to government, they will be killed by the people."

One resident told TOLOnews that for more the seven years the Taliban have "abused the residents and killed them."

A resident of Qads district said: "They are kidnapping our sons and extorting money from us. After this we cannot tolerate this."

Badghis deputy governor Abdul Ghazni Sabiri said that the government welcomed the uprising and they supported the residents.

"There is no other way," he told TOLOnews. "The tribal elders have talked to them several times, but they have not accepted. And so the residents started this uprising."

Ordinary civilians fighting back against the militant Islamists was first reported in eastern Ghazni province in June. Since then it has continued to be reported in several parts of Afghanistan, including, Faryab, Laghman, Nangarhar, and Kapisa.

However, lawmakers recently raised concerns over the rise of "illegal" militia, and also whether other militant groups such as Hezb-i-Islami were taking advantage of the uprisings in villages to wrest power from the Taliban.

They called for the government to closely monitor these situations in order to prevent other groups from gaining power in the upheaval.