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A BELEAGUERED country suffered its
deadliest day of the year on August 14th, when a series of bombings
in northern and south-western Afghanistan killed 50 in markets
crowded with people shopping for the Eid feast at the end of Ramadan.
Nobody claimed responsibility, but NATO-led foreign forces soon
blamed the Taliban militants they have been fighting for more
than a decade.
Faced with such barbarism, and seeing their own campaign progress
uncertainly, Western soldiers often ask why Afghans themselves
do not take more of a stand against the Taliban and related insurgents.
Villages have a tradition of arming and defending themselves against
outsiders. Weapons are plentiful, and many men have martial experience.
Although the national government in Kabul of President Hamid Karzai
is disliked, so, increasingly, are the Taliban. American soldiers
recall that in Iraq in 2007 an “awakening” of Sunni
tribes who turned on al-Qaeda in their midst did more than anything
to improve security.
So excitement has grown since reports emerged earlier this summer
of clashes between villagers and the Taliban in Andar district
in Ghazni province, south of the capital. Confrontations had happened
before, but the scale and duration of what is taking place in
Andar is unusual. In an all-out war, the Taliban were driven from
villages, with fatalities on both sides. When the Taliban tried
to counterattack, the locals successfully resisted.
The sparks that ignited the revolt were a Taliban ban on boys’
schools, and restrictions closing some bazaars. Tensions had been
growing for some time, however. At first the Taliban were welcomed
in this conservative area, yet before long locals felt outsiders
from Pakistan were taking over and becoming high-handed. Rules
appeared stricter in Andar than elsewhere. Concerns among locals
grew with rumours that Mullah Ismail, a senior Taliban leader
and influential Ghazni native, had been arrested in Pakistan during
an internal purge.
The revolt began in Payendi village and quickly spread. Over three
months later militia leaders boast of having 250 men and control
over 50 villages, representing 4,000 families. Andar’s fields
and orchards are patrolled by men on motorcycles. Sporting assault
rifles and ammunition belts, they look like the men they are fighting.
The combat has been fierce. Lotfullah Kamrani, a student who leads
dozens of men, says they have fought 33 skirmishes, in which a
score of fighters have died defending their villages. Weapons
are easy to come by, he says, since most Andar homes own at least
one. Ammunition, however, is in shorter supply.
The progress of Mr Kamrani and his comrades is being closely watched
from the capital. Just because they are fighting the Taliban does
not mean they are friends of Mr Karzai, still less of NATO. Many
villagers say they are sickened by the corruption and injustices
of the Kabul regime. They just want to be left alone.
In Kabul people wonder who is funding the movement, and whether
other forces are behind it. As the uprising has grown, it has
attracted leaders associated with the Hezb-e-Islami party. The
faction, founded by Gulbuddin Hikmatyar, was the biggest group
fighting the Russians during the Soviet occupation; it later played
a key and brutal part in Afghanistan’s civil war. One Western
diplomat who has followed events says that Hezb-e-Islami is now
hijacking Andar’s home-grown uprising. Mr Hikmatyar, presumably
now based in Pakistan’s rugged border areas, is no friend
of the Karzai regime.
Another unknown is the role of powerful figures within the Afghan
government. Asadullah Khalid, chief of security for southern Afghanistan
and another Ghazni native, is suspected of trying to take control
of the uprising. He denies the government is backing Andar’s
fighters, but admits lending personal support.
How long the rebels can hold out is unclear. The revolt has recently
spread beyond Andar to Muqur district, yet remains localised.
The Taliban vow to quash what they call an American plot, but
they may quietly seek a compromise, perhaps by loosening their
edicts or freeing Mullah Ismail. For now, the Taliban who were
in Andar are only the latest in a long line to learn that Afghans
do not take kindly to being bossed about by outsiders.
