A teenage girl has become a hero in Afghanistan for fighting a Taliban attack, killing two militants with the AK-47 that her father taught her to use before the insurgent group killed him. Now Qamar Gul, about 15 years old, has been invited to the presidential palace and President Ahsraf Ghani has already congratulated him on his bravery.
BROCHURE / Muhammad Rafiq Alam
Speaking to CBS News by phone from the western Ghor province of Afghanistan, Gul recounted the night last week when the terrorists arrived at his home in the village of Geriveh and forcibly entered.
“It was around 1 am when the Taliban knocked on our door. My mother answered and refused to open the door. They broke the door and dragged my parents into the hallway and killed them both,” he told CBS News.
Gul grabbed his father’s rifle, which he had taught him to use, and opened fire. Two Taliban insurgents were killed in the shooting and another was wounded, according to Gul and the district governor.
The villagers soon rushed and together they forced the Taliban to retreat.
“I am proud to have killed my parents’ killers,” Gul told the AFP news agency in a separate interview. “I killed them because they killed my parents and also because I knew they would come for me and my little brother.”
“After killing the two Taliban, I went to speak to my parents, but they were not breathing,” he told AFP. “I feel sad that I couldn’t speak to them one last time.”
Muhammad Rafiq Alam, head of the local Taywara district, said Gul’s father, Arbab Shah Gul, had been a staunch defender of the government and head of the village council of elders, making him a target for insurgents.
“The village is located about 40 kilometers from the center of the district and under government control. We arrived in the village in the morning and buried the parents of Qamar Gul,” said Alam.
Social media users have praised Gul, and some have expressed concern for his safety.
“#Qamargul’s courageous action is a clear message from all Afghan women to terrorists,” Munera Yousufzada, the country’s deputy defense minister, tweeted. “The Taliban should know that women in the current two decades are not women of silence and tolerance, and they want nothing less than their rights.”
Gul told CBS News that he hoped to meet with the president.
“My life and that of my family are in danger. I want the government to protect us and our people so that we can live in peace,” he said.
Provincial Governor Noor Muhammad Kohnaward told CBS News that Gul had been moved to a safe place and was soon to leave for Kabul to visit President Ghani.
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