The Taliban wounded more than a dozen people and killed at least three on Wednesday following a violent protest dispersal maneuver, ending a rare display of dissent, according to health officials in Afghanistan.
Residents stormed the streets of Jalalabad, a city located in the country’s Nangarhar province, and tore down Taliban flags, replacing them with the national flag of Afghanistan one day before the country’s independence day commemorating the end of British rule in 1919.
Several images surfaced online Wednesday showing Afghan demonstrations against the Taliban in the Ghani Khel district in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. The Taliban began dispersing protesters by firing shots into the air while beating people with batons to break up the crowd, later killing at least three and wounding over a dozen, two witnesses told Reuters. A former police official suggested that the true toll was even higher, saying four people had been killed and 13 injured without offering further details.
AT LEAST 17 INJURED IN STAMPEDE AT KABUL AIRPORT, NATO OFFICIAL SAYS
Photos purportedly showing hundreds of Afghans demonstrating against Taliban in Ghanikhel district, Nangarhar.
Residents have taken down white Taliban flags and replaced them with the national flag of #Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/B4g2roLVoN
— Frud Bezhan فرود بيژن (@FrudBezhan) August 18, 2021
The killings happened after protesters attempted to raise the national flag in Jalalabad, witnesses said. Media covering the incident also said they were assaulted with batons by Taliban fighters.
Opposition against the Taliban also sprung up in the Panjshir Valley on Wednesday, as dozens of fighters paraded in the streets in the only province that has yet to fall to the Taliban.
Video: Anti-Taliban fighters who have once again gathered under the banner of the late Ahmad Shah Massoud’s “Northern Alliance” parade through the Panjshir Valley, a longtime hotbed of resistance to Taliban rule. pic.twitter.com/MNCU3F2HFF
— Evan Kohlmann (@IntelTweet) August 18, 2021
Similar protests were reported on Wednesday in Asadabad, located in the Kunar province, where Afghans again lowered Taliban flags and replaced them with the national flag.
The civil protest from dissidents against the Taliban came just days after the militant group’s insurgency took over the capital of Kabul.
The airport in Kabul where hundreds of Afghans are congregating in an effort to flee was ravaged by another stampede on Wednesday that injured at least 17 people, a NATO security official reported. The stampede on Wednesday mirrored similar desperation seen on Monday when some Afghans died from clinging to the side of a flying plane.
Officials in President Joe Biden‘s administration said Tuesday that up to 15,000 United States residents remain in the country as the military continues to facilitate evacuations for U.S. citizens and eligible Afghans.
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Meanwhile, officials of the former Western-backed government met with Taliban leaders as they work to form a new government, with a Taliban official saying Wednesday that a Taliban commander met with former Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday as the Taliban invaded the capital city of Kabul to claim the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Officials with the United Arab Emirates acknowledged on Wednesday that Ghani and his family were in that country. Amrullah Saleh, the former vice president of Afghanistan, declared Tuesday that he’s the “legitimate caretaker president” as he attempts to convene military leaders in opposition to the Taliban.
