After losing the hope that the Karzai government would clean their area of insurgents, this spring the people in Andar district of Ghazni – on their own – fought the Taliban and their foreign friends, killed many of them and forcefully drove the remaining out of their villages. The movement did not stop there.

Recently, there have been public uprising against Taliban militants in various districts in Kandahar and Nangarhar provinces which speak of growing hatred against insurgency among Afghans. Violence, bombings, poisonings of schoolgirls and setting schools ablaze, threats and kidnappings and obstruction of reconstruction projects are among the causes that have driven disgusted Afghans to rise up against militants.

According to sources, people in Hasarak district of Nangarhar and Panjwai district of Kandahar have stood firmly against Taliban fighters and the Afghan government has announced its support to such movements.

If the people are not satisfied with the performance of Afghan government, they are also sick of Taliban who use their houses as shelters, demand food from them and force them to fight against foreign forces in Afghanistan. In provinces where Taliban have been restricting people’s social and economic activities, the people can play a great role by showing hatred to and resisting the Taliban militants.

As we will move ahead, Afghans will have to defend their country on their own. By the end of 2014, all the security of responsibilities of Afghanistan will fall into the hands of its own security forces. The success of Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) would be impossible to accomplish until and unless they have support from within the people.

Local people are also useful sources of information about insurgents and their activities. In Afghan society, it is very difficult for security forces to recognize the insurgents who hide among civilian population wearing clothing similar to that of local people. It is the common Afghans who have better knowledge about people’s activities in their districts.

Therefore, it becomes the responsibility of every Afghan to report suspicious people and movements to ANSF. At the same time, the public uprisings against militants must be supported and monitored by the Afghan government. Also, programs aimed at opening the minds of people to let them better distinguish between their enemy and friend should be bolstered.