Afghanistan Conflict Monitor

Afghan School Poisonings Linked to Toxic Chemicals

Afghan School Poisonings Linked to Toxic Chemicals, The Associated Press, 1 September 2010

EXCERPT: "Blood samples taken from Afghan schoolgirls who collapsed in apparent mass poisonings showed traces of toxic chemicals found in herbicides, pesticides and nerve gas, the Health Ministry said Wednesday. Suspicion has fallen on sympathizers of the Taliban, the hard-line Islamist militia that opposes education for women and prohibited girls from going to school when it was in power until it being ousted by a 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Poisonous levels of organophosphates were found in samples taken from girls sickened in incidents over the past two years, said ministry spokesman Dr. Ghulam Sakhi Kargar. Samples from more recent cases have been sent to Turkey for analysis and no results have been issued yet, Kargar said. Last month, 48 pupils and teachers at Kabul's Zabihullah Esmati High School and 60 students and teachers at the Totia Girls School were hospitalized after fainting or complaining of breathing problems, dizziness and nausea. Students say they began feeling unwell after being exposed to an unknown gas spreading through classrooms."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
US concerned over attacks on Afghan schoolchildren, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, 31 August 2010
The Taliban mystery gas, Strategy Page, 31 August 2010

Related resources:
Osman Mirghani: The Scourge that has Afflicted Muslims, Asharq Alawsat, 1 September 2010
Nushin Arbabzadah: School "gassing" shows Afghanistan's theological chaos, The Guardian - Comment is Free, 27 August 2010

Related posts:
Afghan girls in suspected gas attack, 25 August 2010
Attacks on schools on the rise: Report, 23 November 2009
Insecurity harming child health, education: UNICEF, 20 May 2009
The high price of education in Afghanistan, 25 February 2009

Afghan Girls in Suspected Gas Attack

Afghan Girls in Suspected Gas Attack, The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 August 2010

EXCERPT: "Dozens of Kabul schoolgirls were admitted to hospital on Wednesday after a suspected poison gas attack on their school, officials said. 'Today at around 9.30am (0500 GMT, 1500 AEST) around 55 people, including nine teachers and 46 students at the Totya Girls' High School, following an apparent poisoning incident, were taken to hospital,' education ministry spokesman Mohammed Asef Nang said. 'They are in stable condition,' he said, adding that some had become dizzy and others lapsed into unconsciousness. The suspected attack is the fifth such incident this year in Kabul and the 11th nationwide, officials said, though they could not confirm the exact cause. Blood tests from girls affected in previous incidents had not yielded any conclusive results, they said. Some observers have speculated that they were cases of mass hysteria, though Nang said that Wednesday's incident was 'an act of cowardice by enemies of women and education,' a reference to the Taliban."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Video: Poison gas hits Afghan schoolgirls, Al Jazeera, 25 August 2010
Taliban poison attack or mass hysteria? Chaos hits another Kabul girls' school, The Guardian, 25 August 2010

Related resources:
Current Events Report: Afghan School Girls Chemical Attacks, IB Consultancy, 25 June 2010
Mission Report: Visit of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict to Afghanistan, Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, 26 February 2010
Education under Attack 2010, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 10 February 2010

Related posts:
Afghan schools: Safe havens?, 10 August 2010
Afghan school girls "poisoned", 26 April 2010
Attacks on schools on the rise: Report, 23 November 2009
Insecurity harming child health, education: UNICEF, 20 May 2009
Five million children not in school, 21 April 2009

Afghan Schools: Safe Havens?

Afghan Schools: Safe Havens?, CBC News, 9 August 2010

EXCERPT: "From time to time, stories of school attacks surface in media reports, including one of the most infamous incidents where men on motorcycles squirted several schoolgirls with bottles of acid. Many of the incidents outlined in the U.S. military reports are smaller and less shocking, and go unreported in the media. But added together, they paint a picture of continuous threats. 'Noses and ears will be cut off from any women seen going to and from the school,' one threat letter sent to a district commissioner in Daman district states, according to the reports. Other military reports mention a Kapisa province school principal who is killed; a Kunduz province education chief ambushed while carrying teacher salaries by suspects wearing military uniforms; and a bomb detonating as the Parwan province chief of education drives by.Though the Kunduz chief is robbed but not injured and the Parwan education chief escapes unscathed, the incidents are troubling in their regularity."

Read the full story.

Related articles:
Afghan civilian toll points to Isaf mission dilemma, BBC News, 10 August 2010
Will the Taliban triumph?, Middle East Online, 10 August 2010
Afghan women fear peace may come at cost of rights, Seattle Times, 30 July 2010

Related posts:
Afghan school girls "poisoned", 26 April 2010
Attacks on schools on the rise: report, 23 November 2009
Government-run madrassa seeks to unite Afghans,10 June 2009
The high price of education in Afghanistan, 25 February 2009
An Afghan dilemma: Education, gender and globalization in an Islamic context, 5 November 2007

Afghan School Girls "Poisoned"

Afghan School Girls "Poisoned", Al Jazeera, 25 April 2010

EXCERPT: "At least 13 girls have fallen ill after a suspected poisonous gas attack at a school in northern Afghanistan. The government has accused fighters opposed to female education of being behind the attack. Sunday's incident - the third in Kunduz province - brings to 80 the number of school girls reporting symptoms such as headaches, vomiting and shivering after suspected poisoning. On Saturday, 47 girls from a different school had reported feeling dizzy and nauseous, while on Wednesday 23 girls said they felt unwell under similar circumstances. Humayun Khamoosh, head of the Central Hospital in Kunduz, said all the girls were in stable condition after initial treatment."

Read the full story.

Related article:
Taliban condemns poison gas attack on schoolgirls in Kunduz, The Independent, 26 April 2010

Related posts:
Attacks on schools on the rise: report, 23 November 2009
10 girls' schools have shut down near Kunduz, 26 May 2009
Insecurity harming child health, education: UNICEF, 20 May 2009
The general situation of children in Afghanistan, 21 April 2008

The National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment 2007/8: A Profile of Afghanistan

The National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment 2007/8: A Profile of Afghanistan, Central Statistics Organization - Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, 7 December 2009

EXCERPT: "Afghanistan is facing fundamental economic and social change. To measure progress in social and economic development, as well as in poverty reduction, it is imperative that the Government of Afghanistan has access to information on the social and economic situation of the population. This information will serve to assist the government in adapting policy to changing socio-economic conditions, and allow it to monitor the impact of such policies on the more vulnerable groups in the country and on the country as a whole. The NRVA as it stands today is the only comprehensive nation-wide multi-purpose household survey in Afghanistan, enabling a large amount of cross-section analysis. The present 2007/8 NRVA is the third of three successive rounds of surveys, following NRVA 2003 and 2005. The NRVA 2003 survey was carried out with co-operation of the World Food Programme (WFP) and supported by the Vulnerability Analysis Unit (VAU) of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development. The second NRVA survey was launched in 2005, with the Central Statistics Organization (CSO) and the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as the implementing agencies. The NRVA 2005 was a significant improvement in terms of sample design and coverage."

Read the full report [pdf].

Related posts:
Afghanistan National Development Strategy: First annual report (2008/09), 26 November 2009
Mid-year review of the 2009 humanitarian action plan, 21 July 2009
Afghanistan National Development Strategy, 5 June 2008
Development and war in Afghanistan, 2 November 2007

Attacks on Schools on the Rise: Report

'Knowledge on Fire: Attacks on Education in Afghanistan: Risks and Measures for Successful Mitigation', CARE Canada, 23 November 2009

EXCERPT: "'Stop teaching and running the girls' school, otherwise you will be slaughtered.' That was the message to the Headmaster of a girls' school in Logar, just south of Kabul, when unknown masked gunmen took him out of his house late one evening and beat him up. The attacks on schools, students and educational personnel are an alarming trend in Afghanistan. . . Throughout 2008 alone, 670 attacks on the Afghan education system were carried out including arson and the murder of teachers and students. Between January 2006 and December 2008, 1153 attacks of different natures were reported: grenades, night letters or verbal threats to teachers, killings of students and education personnel. According to the Ministry of Education (MoE), 230 people died as a result of attacks on schools, students and personnel between 2006 and 2007."

Read the full report [pdf].

Related articles:
Afghan schools seek survival amid attacks, CNN, 23 November 2009
Armed men destroy girl school in southern Afghanistan, China View, 23 November 2009
Big test for Afghanistan education, The Christian Science Monitor, 13 November 2009

Related posts:
10 girls' schools have shut down near Kunduz, 26 May 2009
Insecurity harming child health, education: UNICEF, 20 May 2009
Fears keep girls from school, 14 May 2009
Five million children not in school, 21 April 2009
The high price of education in Afghanistan, 25 February 2009

Role of Religion in Afghan Politics

Prakhar Sharma, 'Role of Religion in Afghan Politics: Evolution and Key Trends', The Henry L. Stimson Center, 1 April 2009

EXCERPT: "Afghanistan faces a serious crisis of political stability, threatening its modest development gains, the survival of its government, and the interests of the West and the international community. In order to meet these challenges, the country will need broad social unity and should therefore avoid alienating important bodies of opinion wherever possible. Integrating religious leadership into the political mainstream is essential to the viability and stability of the country's continued transition into a free and democratic political order. Equally important is to give religious practice an outlet in other aspects of public life, such as education. Interviews with locals in six different provinces including Kabul, indicate a growing frustration with the government's lack of effort in integrating religious leaders into the political process. Showing respect for Islam can play a key role in building political legitimacy in a country whose population is overwhelmingly Muslim. Madrassas, or religious schools, are also a contentious issue. There is a concern in Afghanistan and among its Western supporters, that madrassas could be fostering antidemocratic or even terrorist ideologies. However, several nationwide surveys conducted during the last three years reveal the importance that the populace accords to education and the accepted prevalence of religion in education."

To continue reading the article, click here [pdf].

Government-Run Madrassa Seeks To Unite Afghans

'Madrassa Seeks To Unite Afghans', The Washington Times, 10 June 2009

EXCERPT: "Situated along the dusty outskirts of Helmand's capital, the newly built madrassa sits like an island between opposing armadas. On one side: Reformists who want to remake Afghanistan into a modern state while maintaining its identity as a deeply pious Islamic republic. On the other: Militants who are resistant to modernity and unwilling to compromise their interpretations of Islam. The government-run Central Darul Hifaz madrassa, or religious school, is hardly alone in that it is caught between two very different Afghanistans. All across Helmand, a powder-keg southern province that borders the far southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan, groups are struggling to reconcile, unite and rebuild institutions and infrastructure after more than 30 years of war. At the same time, the region faces the buildup of U.S. and international troops and predictions of an intensified conflict as the Taliban refortifies itself here and across great swaths of Afghanistan and Pakistan."

To continue reading the article, click here.

See also:
'How a suicide bomber was recruited - then changed his mind', Miami Herald, 3 June 2009
'Inside Taliban's graduate school', The Australian, 13 May 2009

Related posts:
'Taliban forces students out of schools into madrasas', 17 February 2009
'Teen describes madrasah effort to make him a suicide bomber', 6 June 2008
'An Afghan dilemma: Education, gender and globalization in an Islamic context', 5 November 2007

10 Girls' Schools Have Shut Down Near Kunduz

'The Taliban Advances: "If We Now Kill Schoolgirls, You Shouldn't Be Surprised"', Spiegel Online, 26 May 2009

EXCERPT: "When the deputy director of Aqtash High School talks of the government, he isn't referring to Hamid Karzai's central government in Kabul. Nor does he refer to the provincial administration in Kunduz. 'The Taliban are our government,' Bashir says. 'They have taken over our region, their commanders give the orders here.' Bashir is standing in a dusty classroom on the ground floor of his modern school, roughly half an hour from Kunduz by car. As recently as just one month ago, he says, some 400 girls were still coming to the school in three daily shifts to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. Figures and formula are still scrawled across the blackboard. But now, the girls' classrooms have been left to deteriorate. The desks and chairs are still laid out in neat rows, but a film of dust has collected, and Bashir stands helplessly in the middle of the room."

To continue reading the article, click here.

See also:
'Battle for Afghanistan a fight for young minds', The Globe and Mail, 26 May 2009
'Afghanistan foe: Population surge', RAWA News, 25 May 2009
'Women's rights threatened in Iraq, Afghanistan', San Francisco Chronicle, 24 May 2009
'German army can't protect Afghan girls' schools', Spiegel Online, 18 May 2009
'Afghan private schools seen as sign of hope, optimism', Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, 9 May 2009

Related posts:
'Insecurity harming child health, education: UNICEF', 20 May 2009
'Afghan girls ill in third school poisoning', 12 May 2009
'Five million children not in school', 21 April 2009
'Afghan women, education, and opportunities', 24 October 2008
'An Afghan dilemma: Education, gender and globalization in an Islamic context', 5 November 2007

Insecurity Harming Child Health, Education: UNICEF

'Worsening Afghan Security Hurting Children: UNICEF', AFP, 20 May 2009

EXCERPT: "Deteriorating security is harming children in Afghanistan, where an explosion of deadly attacks have targeted schools and impeded access to vital health care, the UN children's agency said Wednesday. In the first four months of this year, UNICEF recorded 73 incidents involving schools, including burnings, explosions, threats and attacks, which left 27 people dead. This compared to 53 incidents for the same period in 2008 that resulted in three deaths, and 65 cases the previous year with 10 dead. These attacks and incidents like mysterious gas poisonings that sickened scores of girls near Kabul recently, create fear and stop parents sending their children to school, UNICEF South Asia director Dan Toole said. Hundreds of schools have closed in the south -- the main battlefield between the Taliban and Western-backed Afghan troops -- and most of the country's polio cases are in the same region where lack of security hampers vaccination drives. Fighting linked to the growing Taliban-led insurgency has put much of the area out of bounds to international aid agencies, with UNICEF having offices in only two provinces in the dangerous south."

To continue reading the article, click here.

See also:
'Attacks threaten gains to Afghan girls' education: U.N.', Reuters, 20 May 2009
'Podcast #14: Education in the line of fire in Afghanistan and Pakistan', United Nations Children's Fund, 15 May 2009

Related posts:
'Fears keep girls from school', 14 May 2009
'The high price of education in Afghanistan', 25 February 2009
'In Afghanistan, education under attack', 22 December 2008
'Attacks deprive 300,000 students of education', 22 September 2008