CHARKINT, Afghanistan—On the gold and green plains of northern Afghanistan’s Balkh province, the days seem peaceful; the nights are anything but. Once darkness falls, armed gunmen speed out of Taliban-occupied villages like motorcycle gangs on the rampage, charging checkpoints manned by citizen militias intent on protecting themselves from an insurgent onslaught.
Firefights can last a few hours or all night. “Their aim is to keep us up, keep us vigilant, and to exhaust us,” said Mohammad Amir, the head of the Uprising Commission in Charkint district, an hour’s drive south of the provincial capital, Mazar-i-Sharif. That makes him the head of logistics for about 350 local men who have taken it upon themselves to stop the Taliban’s advance across their corner of Afghanistan.
