In villages across Kunduz province, where a misdirected NATO air strike killed 90 civilians in September, tribal elders say they have had enough of being caught in the middle of an escalating war.

So they are grabbing their guns, forming their own armies and getting rid of the Taliban insurgents who took control of their region.

"We were fed up with the Taliban," Abdul Jalil Tawakal, a tribal elder from Qala-i-Zal district told AFP.

He and other local leaders have formed a militia with one aim: to get rid of the Taliban and the NATO forces that have been battling them for months.

"Both the Taliban and international forces were killing us, this was too much. So we picked up our guns and forced the Taliban out of our village," he said. "Now we are living a peaceful life."

The area came to the Taliban's attention with the opening earlier this year of a supply route for US and NATO troops funnelling fuel and other materiel from Tajikistan over the border to military bases in Afghanistan.

The massive convoys -- sometimes hundreds of trucks -- drew Taliban attacks, which in turn drew international forces, notably Germans who have 4,500 troops deployed in Kunduz, trapping locals in the crossfire.

The situation reached a nadir in September when German troops ordered an air strike after the Taliban hijacked two fuel trucks and made villagers in the Aliabad area syphon off the load when they became bogged down in a river.

The strike and its high death toll made global news and highlighted the degree to which the Taliban had taken over large swathes of the province, killing police at checkpoints and intimidating villagers.

But while Tawakal says his local militia has driven off the Taliban -- and their international foes fighting to defend the remit of the Afghan government -- most of Kunduz is still troubled by the spreading insurgency.

Taliban activity used to be confined largely to the southern strongholds of Kandahar and Helmand provinces but the London-based International Council for Security and Development says the insurgents have expanded their permanent footprint across 80 percent of Afghanistan.

Kunduz residents say the Taliban have set up "shadow governments" in areas of the province.

"In Chahar Dara the Taliban have a government, they are helping the people settle disputes, they collect taxes from the people," Nematullah, who lives in Chahar Dara told AFP.

The rebels freely patrol villages in the troubled district, he said.

A Western aid official said the Taliban "have become the proprietor of dispute resolution" in many areas of the country where the government had little or no presence.

"They are able to deliver at a very local level a horrible form of justice, rough justice. And for many people in this country, any justice is better than none at all," he said, speaking on condition he not be named.

Kunduz provincial governor Mohammad Omar told AFP the insurgency has gained pace in his province since earlier this year.

"The security has worsened in Kunduz," he said.

Like many Afghan officials, he blamed insurgents based in neighbouring Pakistan for orchestrating much of the violence, but recognised that a number of domestic factors were contributing to the spread of Taliban influence.

High unemployment, the absence of security forces and a lack of reconstruction projects aided Taliban infiltration, he said.

"We have only 1,000 police officers for the entire province. This is not enough," Omar said, adding that Taliban attacks have killed more than 60 policemen in the past three years.

"Most young men are unemployed and the enemy exploits this, paying them to fight for them," Omar said.

The mounting violence in the north poses new challenges for NATO and the United States as President Barack Obama decides whether to add up to 40,000 more troops to the 100,000 international forces already in the country.

Governor Omar said it is not too late to regain control of the province as long as additional security forces and resources are put in place.

He praised the defensive actions of local people, such as those in Qala-i-Zal, but said it must be backed by the Kabul government.

"In some areas people have voluntarily picked up arms against the Taliban. This has been a successful process and we hope to help these people," he said.

This month, Afghan security forces backed by NATO launched a series of offensives in some of the most troubled areas of the province, saying they killed more than 130 rebels.

Operations in several districts are ongoing, defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told AFP.

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