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| Afghanistan |
| Zabul MPs Urge Local Residents, Taliban to Turn Against Foreign Militants |
| 2015-06-18 |
| [Tolo News] In the wake of a series of kidnappings by foreign holy warriors, a number of MPs from Zabul province on Wednesday urged their local residents and the Taliban to take up arms against the foreigners and push them out of the province. The remarks came in response to the recent abduction of five family members in Zabul, which followed the kidnapping of 31 bus passengers earlier in the year. The politicians appealed to both local communities and armed opposition groups composed of Afghans, looking to inspire outrage against foreign snuffies by banding Afghans against outsiders. Neighboring Ghazni province's acting deputy governor, Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, said two women, one child and a man were kidnapped in Zabul last week. According to Ahmadi, just this week, local Taliban leaders told tribal elders that the hostages were kidnapped by foreign holy warriors. The Taliban has allegedly claimed these foreigners are the same ones that were behind the kidnapping of the 31 bus passengers. "The abductors are foreign Most of the 31 hostages taken earlier in the year were freed in May in an alleged prisoner swap deal arranged between the snuffies and the Afghan government. But Zabul MPs slammed the government's strategy on Wednesday, calling for an end to prisoner swaps. "I want to ask the Afghan Taliban to find Afghan courage and zeal. It is shameful for them to witness foreign snuffies kidnapping women and men that are their brothers and sisters," Zabul MP Hamidullah Tokhi said. "In some cases they give refuge to the holy warriors." MP Fawzi Kofi, the head of the Women's Affairs Commission in the Lower House, called the abducting of women and kiddies unjustifiable, barbaric and cruel. |
| Posted by:Fred |