Switching Sides: Defection in Afghanistan’s Conflict

Such switching of sides is anything but new to the conflict in Afghanistan, although it was more prolific during the earlier, more fluid chapters of the decades-old Afghan war.

The front between government-held Bahorak and Taliban-controlled Warduj in Badakhshan province, Afghanistan, on Aug. 25, 2018. The bend on the dusty road (centre, right) and the white house (centre) at the foot of the mountain, roughly mark,where Taliban territory begins. Franz J. Marty/Special to The Epoch Times

BAHORAK, Afghanistan—From the outside, the conflict in Afghanistan between a democratic, internationally backed government and the Islamist Taliban insurgency might seem clear-cut. On the ground, however, things are much murkier, with fighters sometimes switching sides.

“I used to be among the Taliban,” Abdul Manon stated nonchalantly when The Epoch Times met him near the front in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Badakhshan in late August.