Taliban forces in Afghanistan’s Ghazni Province have faced a major local uprising in several villages under their control, with a militia attacking them overnight Thursday and continuing to battle them through Friday.
Death tolls are difficult to confirm, but the militia reported 25 Taliban killed, and 20 others wounded. It also appears that 10 of the militia members were killed in the fighting over the villages in Andar District.
Taliban forces had been attempting to solidify their hold on Ghazni Province in recent months, attacking several Afghan security posts over the past week. The province has remained a stronghold of insurgency throughout the war.
The uprising reflects that the relative ease of displacing the other side from villages in the 12-year-long war in Afghanistan doesn’t mean they will be easy to keep, and that in the end, local Afghans are reluctant to support either side’s occupation of their towns.