An Afghan girl shot dead two Taliban militants and injured several others after they dragged out her parents from their home and killed them for supporting the government, officials said on Tuesday.
The incident happened last week when insurgents stormed the home of Qamar Gul, a teenager from a village in the central province of Ghor, Gulf News reported.
The terrorists were looking for her father, the village chief, local police head Habiburahman Malekzada told the media.
Her father was a government supporter, which is why the terrorists went to his house and dragged him out, Malekzada said.
When his wife resisted, the Taliban militants killed the couple outside their home, Malekzada said.
“Qamar Gul, who was inside the house, took an AK-47 gun the family had and first shot dead the two Taliban terrorists who killed her parents, and then injured a few others,” he said.
Gul is aged between 14 and 16, according to different officials. It is common for many Afghans not to know their precise age.
Several other Taliban militants later came to attack her house, but some villagers and pro-government militiamen drove them away after a gunfight.
In recent months, the militants have stepped up attacks on security forces despite agreeing to peace talks with Kabul.
Peace process
The Afghan government has the responsibility to merge the Taliban into the structure of the political system, but it is the Afghan people who have the right to decide the final fate of the peace process, said President Ashraf Ghani.
Ghani made the statement during a visit to the province of Kapisa to assess the overall security situation in the country’s north, reports TOLO News.
“It is our responsibility to merge the Taliban in the structure of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan hich will happen hopefully.
“But we must remember that the final decision about peace will be taken by the people of Afghanistan,” said Ghani.
The statement comes as expectations run high that the direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban will start sometime this month.
The members of the government peace negotiating team said they were fully prepared to enter into talks with the Taliban once the date and location were finalized.
The 21-member peace negotiating team is currently working in four groups as part of their preparations for talks with the Taliban.
Meanwhile, President Ghani also said that the process will not move forward until the fate of the security forces held by the Taliban is clarified.
The release of prisoners is one of the Taliban’s preconditions to start the much-awaited peace talks, reports TOLO News.
According to the US peace agreement with the Taliban, up to 5,000 prisoners from the government prisons, and 1,000 security forces held by the militant group, must be released before peace talks begin.
Four months after the agreement was signed, some 4,200 Taliban prisoners have been released by the government and about 850 government prisoners have been released by the group.
“The reason why the process of releasing the Taliban’s prisoners is moving forward is that I want the fate of every prisoner of the Afghan security and defence forces to be clear. The peace process will not go on until the fate of our heroes is clarified,” Ghani said.
He also said that the people of Afghanistan will never give a Taliban emirate supremacy over the republic, and the militants should know that the people will make the final decision.
On the other hand, sources close to the Taliban have said that if the process of releasing prisoners is not completed, violence in the country will increase, TOLO News reported.
So far it is not clear when the peace talks will begin, but the UN had said the talks would begin in Doha in July.