And another thing that’s actually like the actual Taliban. Poisoning 160 schoolgirls in their school is more like the Taliban than a policy against “booth babes” at atheist and skeptic conventions is. Much more.
Don’t go thinking you already know about this, as I did when I first saw it, because this isn’t that one, this is a new one. That’s right: this is a second poisoning of schoolgirls in their school in Afghanistan.
A hospital in northern Afghanistan admitted 160 schoolgirls Tuesday after they were poisoned, a Takhar province police official said.
Their classrooms might have been sprayed with a toxic material before the girls entered, police spokesman Khalilullah Aseer said. He blamed the Taliban.
The incident, the second in a week’s time, was reported at the Aahan Dara Girls School in Taluqan, the provincial capital.
The girls, ages 10 to 20, complained of headaches, dizziness and vomiting before being taken to the hospital, said Hafizullah Safi, director of the provincial health department.
Their punishment for attempting to get an education.
Last week, more than 120 girls and three teachers were admitted to a hospital after a similar suspected poisoning.
“The Afghan people know that the terrorists and the Taliban are doing these things to threaten girls and stop them going to school,” Aseer said last week. “That’s something we and the people believe. Now we are implementing democracy in Afghanistan and we want girls to be educated, but the government’s enemies don’t want this.”
But earlier this week, the Taliban denied responsibility, instead blaming U.S. and NATO forces for the poisonings in an attempt to “defame” the insurgent group.
No, no, it was teh feminists who did it!
There have been several instances of girls being poisoned in schools in recent years.
In April, also in Takhar province, more than 170 women and girls were hospitalized after drinking apparently poisoned well water at a school. Local health officials blamed the acts on extremists opposed to women’s education.
While nearly all the incidents involve girls, earlier this month, nearly 400 boys at a school in Khost province fell ill after drinking water from a well that a health official said may have been poisoned.
Aha, you see? That proves it was teh feminists who did it. All the ones done to girls were to throw everyone off the scent.
Is “Taliban” the new “Godwin”?
Sadly there are many more extremist forces inside Afghanistan than only ‘the’ Taliban who would be up for the task of poisoning girls. Some are worse if there is such a thing. The Afghan Taliban (as opposed to the Pakistan Taliban, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan which is truly Al Qaida offspring,) is an Afghan organization consisting of Afghans, though midwived and supported by the ISI, it is a national organization, with a national scope. Several factions gathered around local warlords who are among themselves competing for power and influence are also frequently put under this umbrella term. The actual situation is immensely complex and it is often extremely difficult to discern what really is lurking behind appearances. There is no shortage of islamic radicals in Afghanistan unaffiliated with the ‘official’ Taliban lead by Omar as one can read on and on about at RAWA: http://www.rawa.org/index.php
Albert, thank you for reminding me to avoid over simplifying things. I mean it. I want to say (in the appropriate voice), “I knew that.” Because of our simplified news feeds, one tends to become lazy.