Thirty-year-old Qadir Shah, a local businessman, picked up arms last week to defend his city of Pul-e-Khumri against Taliban offensives. Today, he is already a commander of a small force of similar civilian fighters armed and supported by local leaders. Ajman Omari / The National
Thirty-year-old Qadir Shah, a local businessman, picked up arms last week to defend his city of Pul-e-Khumri against Taliban offensives. Today, he is already a commander of a small force of similar civilian fighters armed and supported by local leaders. Ajman Omari / The National
Thirty-year-old Qadir Shah, a local businessman, picked up arms last week to defend his city of Pul-e-Khumri against Taliban offensives. Today, he is already a commander of a small force of similar civilian fighters armed and supported by local leaders. Ajman Omari / The National
Thirty-year-old Qadir Shah, a local businessman, picked up arms last week to defend his city of Pul-e-Khumri against Taliban offensives. Today, he is already a commander of a small force of similar ci

Ordinary Afghans join battle against Taliban in 'people's uprising'


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Thousands of Afghan civilians have answered the government's call to take up arms against the Taliban as the insurgents make rapid territorial gains, officials said.
"People are coming out in the thousands to support the Afghan forces," Defence Ministry spokesman Fawad Aman told The National. "We are providing them with any support or facilities they need, including weapons, ammunition and food."

In videos shared on social media about what is being called “the people’s uprising,” civilians are seen receiving weapons, marching and patrolling in cities across the country, including in the northern provinces of Takhar, Kapisa, Baghlan and Balkh where the Taliban have stepped up attacks in recent weeks.

Photos from Jowzjan, another northern province, showed groups of women, some of them in the traditional blue burqas, holding Kalashnikovs after signing up to fight the Taliban.

With Afghan forces under increasing pressure, Defence Minister Bismillah Mohammadi called for civilians to mobilise against the Taliban in one of his first acts after being appointed on June 19.

“The government is ready to provide the necessary support to the people’s forces against the Taliban," he said during his introductory speech in parliament on Monday.

Despite holding peace talks with the government, the Taliban have stepped up attacks since the US announced in April that it would withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by September. According to the latest data from the Long War Journal, which maps the Afghan conflict, the Taliban control more than 130 of the country's nearly 400 districts.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that a new US intelligence report estimates that the Taliban could win control of the country's capital within six to 12 months of the US withdrawal.

With the peace talks in deadlock and the Taliban advancing, many Afghans fear they will lose the freedoms gained since the 2001 US-led invasion toppled the hardline Islamic group’s regime.

Mr Aman said the response to the defence minister’s call was “testimony to how much Afghans dislike the Taliban and do not want to go back to the dark days”.

“We calculated over 2,000 citizens who are armed and fighting against the Taliban” in Balkh alone, he said, and added that the numbers were “increasing day by day”.

Faridullah, a young farmer from Doshi district in Balkh, decided to join the fight after the Taliban seized control of the area on Monday. At 18 years old, he is younger than the Taliban insurgency and said he had never used a gun before.

“It was for defending my land and honour. Together with Afghan forces, we liberated Doshi yesterday,” he said proudly.

Faridullah was speaking to The National on Wednesday in the provincial capital, Pul-e-Khumri, where he travelled along with other civilian fighters, many of them of a similar age, to defend the city from a Taliban invasion.

"We reassure the people of the city to not be afraid. We are here to protect them. I have picked up guns so they don't have to," he said as they guarded the southern gates of the city.
"This is our land and we will die to protect it with our last fighting breath," added Safar Mohammad, 20, a civilian fighter from Deh Salah district in Baghlan.

Although keen, these young men have received little in the way of combat training besides being shown how to use their weapons.

Experts have voiced doubts about the effectiveness and long-term consequences of creating a civilian fighting force.

“The historical precedents of militias in Afghanistan are pretty diverse; they have played a number of roles in the last 40 years of war. Sometimes militias have made the critical difference between state survival and collapse. But in almost every case, the human rights records of militias have been abhorrent,” said Andrew Watkins, Crisis Group's senior analyst for Afghanistan.

Mr Watkins said that, although the Afghan security sector appeared to have been testing and “pilot-programming” such an initiative for some time, he doubted "any serious planning has gone into future disarmament, or even how to hold such forces accountable, or even how to ensure such forces don't collapse and hand over additional equipment over to the Taliban”.

"Unless uprising forces' activities are closely co-ordinated, and without at least a bare minimum of training and organisation, they are unlikely to be an effective military deterrent against Taliban offensives," he said.
But not all volunteers lack battle experience. Mohammad Sarwar Niazi, 56, said he fought against Soviet occupation in the 1980s and also against the Taliban as part of the late resistance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud's Northern Alliance.
"I have never been afraid of the Taliban and have defeated them in the past. My only regret is that I stopped fighting," he told The National.

Responding to the government’s call, he has mobilised more than 100 civilians to fight the Taliban in Kapisa province.

“I don’t need the government’s support, I have my own weapons. We may just be civilians now, but we are the very civilians who defeated the Soviets,” he said.

“But had the government valued our experience and sought our support sooner, then we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters

The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.

 Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.

A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.

The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.

The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.

Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.

Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment

But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.

SM Town Live is on Friday, April 6 at Autism Rocks Arena, Dubai. Tickets are Dh375 at www.platinumlist.net

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LEAGUE CUP QUARTER-FINAL DRAW

Stoke City v Tottenham

Brentford v Newcastle United

Arsenal v Manchester City

Everton v Manchester United

All ties are to be played the week commencing December 21.

If you go

The flights
Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Abu Dhabi to Luang Prabang via Bangkok, with a return flight from Chiang Rai via Bangkok for about Dh3,000, including taxes. Emirates and Thai Airways cover the same route, also via Bangkok in both directions, from about Dh2,700.
The cruise
The Gypsy by Mekong Kingdoms has two cruising options: a three-night, four-day trip upstream cruise or a two-night, three-day downstream journey, from US$5,940 (Dh21,814), including meals, selected drinks, excursions and transfers.
The hotels
Accommodation is available in Luang Prabang at the Avani, from $290 (Dh1,065) per night, and at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort from $1,080 (Dh3,967) per night, including meals, an activity and transfers.

In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

What can victims do?

Always use only regulated platforms

Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion

Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)

Report to local authorities

Warn others to prevent further harm

Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

Who's who in Yemen conflict

Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government

Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council

Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south

Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory

'Spies in Disguise'

Director: Nick Bruno and Troy Quane

Stars: Will Smith, Tom Holland, Karen Gillan and Roshida Jones 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Find the right policy for you

Don’t wait until the week you fly to sign up for insurance – get it when you book your trip. Insurance covers you for cancellation and anything else that can go wrong before you leave.

Some insurers, such as World Nomads, allow you to book once you are travelling – but, as Mr Mohammed found out, pre-existing medical conditions are not covered.

Check your credit card before booking insurance to see if you have any travel insurance as a benefit – most UAE banks, such as Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, have cards that throw in insurance as part of their package. But read the fine print – they may only cover emergencies while you’re travelling, not cancellation before a trip.

Pre-existing medical conditions such as a heart condition, diabetes, epilepsy and even asthma may not be included as standard. Again, check the terms, exclusions and limitations of any insurance carefully.

If you want trip cancellation or curtailment, baggage loss or delay covered, you may need a higher-grade plan, says Ambareen Musa of Souqalmal.com. Decide how much coverage you need for emergency medical expenses or personal liability. Premium insurance packages give up to $1 million (Dh3.7m) in each category, Ms Musa adds.

Don’t wait for days to call your insurer if you need to make a claim. You may be required to notify them within 72 hours. Gather together all receipts, emails and reports to prove that you paid for something, that you didn’t use it and that you did not get reimbursed.

Finally, consider optional extras you may need, says Sarah Pickford of Travel Counsellors, such as a winter sports holiday. Also ensure all individuals can travel independently on that cover, she adds. And remember: “Cheap isn’t necessarily best.”

The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre supercharged V8

Power: 712hp at 6,100rpm

Torque: 881Nm at 4,800rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 19.6 l/100km

Price: Dh380,000

On sale: now 

THE SPECS

Engine: 1.6-litre turbo

Transmission: six-speed automatic

Power: 165hp

Torque: 240Nm

Price: From Dh89,000 (Enjoy), Dh99,900 (Innovation)

On sale: Now

Panipat

Director Ashutosh Gowariker

Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment

Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman

Rating 3 /stars

Our House, Louise Candlish,
Simon & Schuster

The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder turbo

Transmission: CVT

Power: 170bhp

Torque: 220Nm

Price: Dh98,900

The specs

Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo

Power: 435hp at 5,900rpm

Torque: 520Nm at 1,800-5,500rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Price: from Dh498,542

On sale: now