A teenage girl from Afghanistan has been hailed as “heroic” after she killed two Taliban fighters who were responsible for brutally murdering her parents. Qamar Gul, who is thought to be between the ages of 14 and 16, is said to have used her family’s AK-47 to kill the militants and injure several others.
Qamar Gul, a young girl and her brother, have killed two Taliban fighters and pushed back several others in Tewri district of Ghor province, after the insurgents killed three members of their family. pic.twitter.com/tJa7K2STw5
— Afghanistan Times (@AfghanistanTime) July 19, 2020
- The Taliban broke into her family’s house. According to reports, the Taliban confronted Gul’s family because her father was a government supporter who expressed negative opinions on the terror group’s tax demands. The militants then grabbed Gul’s mother and father and dragged them to the street, where they were beaten until they died.
- Gul immediately sprung into action. While many people would be scared stiff after seeing their parents tragically murdered by a terror group, Gul wasn’t going to stand by and do nothing. She grabbed the AK-47 that belonged to her father and opened fire on the Taliban members.
- Her neighbors joined in to help. Soon after, other residents in Geriveh, in Ghor province, also grabbed their own weapons to drive the group of 40 or so Taliban members out of the village, ABC News reports.
- This wasn’t the first time Gul’s family had been threatened. Because her father was so outspoken about his political opinions, the Taliban had previous issued threats against them and even beaten them. However, this time they were unable to escape with their lives, leaving Gul without her beloved parents.
- Taliban action in Afghanistan has been at a high lately. It’s been nearly two decades that the Taliban and the Afghan government have been at war, and attacks against citizens have been on the rise. As Javid Faisal, spokesperson for the Natural Security Council, tweeted on June 22, “The past week was the deadliest of the past 19 years. Taliban carried out 422 attacks in 32 provinces, martyring 291 ANDSF members and wounding 550 others. Taliban’s commitment to reduce violence is meaningless, and their actions inconsistent with their rhetoric on peace.”