ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- A volunteer militia with fighters as young as 16 has played a critical role in the fight against the Taliban in Pakistan, officials say.

Hundreds of men in northwestern Pakistan participate in the lashkars, as the volunteer groups are known, CNN reports. Officials say they have been critical in driving the Taliban from Swat.

"By nature, they're very tough," Pakistani army Maj. Hasnain Shah said. "They're sacrificing their lives just to protect their own values and to help us out."

Akbar Zaid, 16, who hopes to be a teacher, has been spending the summer with a gun in his hands.

"I'm doing it for peace," he told CNN.

Zaid belongs to the Soltan Kheil lashkar, which operates out of a mountaintop base east of the Swat Valley. The militia's major weapon is a World War II Russian machine gun that can down a helicopter.

"We hate the Taliban," the leader, Malik Zaib Khan, said. "We hate them a lot. I say it openly."

The men in the lashkar have mixed feelings about the United States.

"They promote peace within their borders," one man said when asked what he dislikes most about America. "But they're against peace in other countries."