(MintPress)—In an apparent attack on education and women’s rights in Afghanistan, 120 female students and three teachers have been poisoned, according to reports by Afghan police. The incident comes just one month after the Taliban was accused of poisoning the drinking water at a school in the same region, affecting roughly 150 schoolgirls.
The incidents occurred in the Northern part of the country’s Takhar province, according to Reuters news agency, in what is seen as an attack by conservative rebels in the area. The National Directorate of Security is specifically blaming the Taliban for the attacks.
Police in that area indicate the most recent attacks were caused by a toxic powder that, when released in the air, is poisonous.
The incidents in Takhar showcase the perpetuating instability in the region, in the midst of U.S. gradual troop withdrawals. They come just one month after a series of Taliban-related suicide bomb attacks, targeted at Afghan forces.
Attacking education
The Taliban outlawed education in Afghanistan for women in the late 1990s. Females began returning to school, more so in the capital of Kabul, after the occupation of U.S. forces, beginning in 2001.
While the Taliban has steadily kept up its attack on female education in the area, the recent string of school poisonings is raising the question of whether the educational direction of the country, specifically among young females, will deteriorate, due to fear.
The Taliban has been known to attack schools with explosions, but the new threat creates a sort of invisible fear among those schoolgirls who attempt to gain an education.
In the April poisoning attacks, education officials claimed the widespread illnesses suffered by schoolgirls was caused by poisonous drinking water, and was not a virus, as some seemed to speculate.
“We are 100 percent sure that the water they drunk inside their classes was poisoned,” Afghan Education Department Spokesman Jan Mohammad Nabizada said, according to the Reuters. “This is either the work of those who are against girls’ education or irresponsible armed individuals.”
The Daily Mail reports that Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education released a statement earlier this month indicating 550 schools in in 11 provinces (located in Taliban stronghold areas, usually to the south) have been closed down by insurgents.
US-Taliban relations
In the face of plans for gradual withdrawal, the U.S. and the Taliban were in January close to engaging in peace talks. However, the Taliban stepped down from such discussions after Sgt. Robert Bales went on a shooting spree, killing 16 innocent civilians — an incident that occurred just before a scandal involving U.S. troops burning Korans.
Since then, possibilities of compromise between the two parties has greatly deteriorated. In April, in the midst of U.S. handing over control to Afghan forces, Taliban insurgents targeted Afghan officials, using suicide bombers in two separate attacks. The Taliban took credit for the incidents in a telephone with the media, according to Dawn.com.
The Associated Press reports that attacks since March 31 have led to the deaths of 53 policemen and 13 Afghan Army soldiers. That’s compared to 12 police officers and six soldiers during the same time period in 2011. The trend is expected to continue through the summer.
At the NATO Summit this past weekend in Chicago, Obama indicated that U.S.-led NATO forces will not leave Afghani forces out to dry.
“As Afghans stand up, they will not stand alone,” Obama said to NATO leaders.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Monday the Taliban will not gain control in the midst of NATO troop withdrawal.
“The Taliban may have the ability to launch attacks, to explode IEDs, to send suicide bombers. But for them to come and take over the country and take it backwards, no,” Karzai said to CNN news.