by Faird Behbud
SHIBERGHAN, Afghanistan, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- War-weary Afghans continue to face numerous adversities originating from militancy and terrorist activities in addition to widespread corruption, intense poverty and devastating addictions.
The recent internal clashes between two rival militant groups of the Taliban and Islamic State (IS) have added considerably to the miseries of the Afghan villagers.
"Our living conditions are becoming intolerable following clashes between Taliban insurgents and IS fighters," Abdul Quddos, a displaced villager, told Xinhua on Tuesday.
"The clashes forced villagers to flee their homes despite the harsh winter drawing near. We are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance to survive the upcoming bone-chilling winter," said Quddos.
More than 2,000 families have recently been displaced and fled to neighboring provinces.
This has been as a result of IS-affiliated militants, during a ferocious two-month campaign, repelling the Taliban and taking control of their key bases held for eight years in the restive Qushtipa and Darzab districts of Jawzjan province, in northern Afghanistan, according to local officials.
Hundreds of internally displaced families are now living under tents in the vicinity of the provincial capital Shiberghan city and surrounding villages, with the mercury plunging daily as winter approaches.
While both IS and the Taliban have suffered heavy losses following the clashes in the troubled districts, it is the local people who are predominantly paying the price, since the skirmishes began two months ago.
"After eight years of dominance, the Taliban lost control of their key bases to the IS militants in the Darzab and Qushtipa districts, following the two-month clash, forcing more than 2,000 families to leave their houses," deputy provincial Governor Abdul Rahman told Xinhua Monday.
After taking control of the two strategic districts from the Taliban, the IS militants stripped the local people of their possessions.
The IS fighters took more than 500 livestock by force from the residents during the mass exodus, it was reported.
Quddos, who is barely existing in a poorly erected tent in the Shiberghan locality, said that when the battle started between the two rival groups, only women and children managed to escape the conflict zone, along with the elderly.
"When IS came, they checked my pockets and even took a five afghani (about 7 U.S. cents) banknote and then angrily asked under whose rule were we happy? But we couldn't respond out of fear," he said.
Shah Wali is another victim displaced by the protracted conflicts in the Qushtipa district who said IS fighters torched his harvest after he refused to repay the levies, as he had already paid taxes to the Taliban.
"The brutal IS fighters, soon after entering the district, burned my harvest to ashes and beat me almost unconscious," Wali said.
Up to 10 children and three elderly people have so far lost their lives due to cold and hunger in Jawzjan in past weeks, according to local reports.
The deputy governor, who has pledged to launch a clean-up operation in the two districts, however, while confirming that some children and elderly people had died, did not provide exact figures.
The Islamic State, since its emergence in 2015, in some eastern border provinces of Afghanistan, not only began fighting against the Afghan security forces, but also opposed the Taliban hardliner outfit.
Hundreds of fighters from both sides have been killed or wounded in the two key rivals' conflicts, in the areas under both groups' control.
More than 1.1 million people have been displaced by the conflict over the past 16 years in militancy-plagued Afghanistan, with over 250,000 people being displaced so far this year, according to statistics released by Afghan officials.
The government has been providing humanitarian assistance and temporary shelters to displaced families across the country.
