IWPR reports that these part timers work donot get a weapon to carry with them always like the regulars. Nor any other war related equipment during normal times. When not on Taliban duty, these youngsters go about their normal activity like any other citizen. But once deployed on ‘job’ they are pushed to the front with “the real Taleban encouraging us from behind the lines, saying ‘go on, further, move, move, move’”, according to a youth who saw ‘action’ at a police check post in Guakhan district.
There is no clear estimate of how many part-timers are on Taliban rolls. Some experts put the number at almost 70 per cent of total Taliban strength these days. In Farah, Helmand, Uruzgan, Zabul, and other southern provinces, the majority of insurgents are said to belong this new category, who are fighting for money and not ideology.
