Dozens of women took up arms – some of them heavy weapons – and marched in the capital city of Feroz Koh to pledge their support the Republic and the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, Tolo News reported.
The women said that the historical record of the five years of the Taliban regime proved that the group violates women’s rights.
Thousands of people have taken up arms in support of the Afghan forces as the fall of districts to the group continues.
“They are standing by their brothers and are supporting the system, the people, and the country’s sovereignty,” a Ghor resident said.
The exact number of those who have taken up arms against the Taliban is so far not clear. The defense and interior ministries said that these forces will eventually be combined with the local police, NDS local forces, and the local army forces.
“A situation that will later create bad consequences will not be allowed. They will first support us and then they will be included in the police, army or the local NDS forces,” the acting minister of interior Gen. Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal said.
Atta Mohammad Noor, who leads a public mobilization movement in Balkh and has gone to Balkh districts to fight the Taliban, criticized some government officials for not cooperating with them in their campaign against the group.
“We hear some words from some sides asking why have they gone to the war? They should stay in the city and hand over the war to us. My brother, you are losing the war,” Noor said.
Meanwhile, the office of Ahmad Massoud, a public figure and son of the national hero Ahmad Shah Massoud, said that former mujahideen leaders are making efforts to reorganize a new front against the Taliban by consulting political leaders from the former resistance front.
“We hope that this front is announced and the public uprising forces become organized,” said Saleh Mohammad Registani, a member of Ahmad Massoud’s political office.
There are questions about the achievements of the public uprising forces, but representatives of these forces said they have succeeded in preventing the fall of their towns to the Taliban.
