Kabul, Aug 18 (UNI) In defiance of the Taliban, hundreds of Afghan nationals, mostly the youth, took to the streets in different parts of Afghanistan on Wednesday, and waved the country’s national flag, and in many places replaced the Taliban’s white flag with the red, green and black national flag. There were reports of the Taliban firing on the protesters.
According to social media posts and videos, youth removed the Taliban flag from Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, and waved the national flag of Afghanistan. The protesters ignored the Taliban who fired shots at the crowd.
Jalalabad is the last city that fell to the Taliban before Kabul.
Hundreds of Afghans also demonstrated against the Taliban in Ghanikhel district, in eastern Nangarhar province.
In the eastern city of Khost, the Taliban opened fire on protesters who were waving the national flag.
There were reports of multiple deaths and injuries after residents took down the white Taliban flag and replaced it with the black, red and green flag of Afghanistan in Khost.
Similar incidents were reported from Asadabad city, the capital of Kunar in northeastern Afghanistan, where the Taliban flag was replaced with the Afghan National Flag by local youth.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's First Vice President Amrullah Saleh who has declared himself the caretaker president, in the wake of Ashraf Ghani having left the country, has joined forces with Ahmad Massoud, the son of late Afghan leader Ahmad Shah Massoud.
Ahmad Massoud and Saleh are camping in Panjshir, in northeastern Afghanistan, that has not been taken over by the Taliban.
The flag of the ‘Northern Alliance’ or the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan has been hoisted in Panjshir.
Many Afghan soldiers, who had managed to hide themselves from the Taliban, have reportedly gathered in Panjshir.
The Northern Alliance forces have retaken the Charikar district of Parwan province, north of Kabul, from the Taliban, according to reports.
In another development, Afghanistan's embassy in Tajikistan has replaced portraits of Ashraf Ghani with those of Amrullah Saleh, after the latter declared himself the caretaker president.
Social media posts showing the photograph of Ghani being replaced with that of Saleh were all over social media.
There was also a video post doing the rounds of Taliban militants purportedly brutally beating Afghans who worked as interpreters for the US-led international forces.
In Kabul, meanwhile, on the surface, life appears to be returning to normal, with markets, and restaurants reopening, and people venturing in the streets.
However, there is a sense of panic and fear among the people, according to social media posts.
People have been talking of Taliban beatings, kidnappings, door-to-door searches, and confiscation of mobile phones.
In Bamyan, in central Afghanistan, the Taliban exploded a statue of Abdul Ali Mazari, a leader of the Hazara ethnic group who was killed by the Taliban in 1996. For Hazaras, Mazari is a champion in the long Afghan war.
Photos of the broken statue were seen on social media.
UNI RN SHK1800