Poisoning of Girls This Time in Afghanistan; 60 Students Hospitalized

Taliban police announced on Monday that about 60 Afghan girls were poisoned at a school in northern Afghanistan and subsequently hospitalized. According to Reuters, this poisoning targeted a girls' school in Sar-e Pol province. The poisoning of female students comes after the Taliban has banned most teenage girls from continuing their education, and a wave of similar poisonings against girls' schools has also occurred in neighboring Iran. The Sar-e Pol police spokesperson did not provide details, stating that some unidentified individuals entered a girls' school, poisoned the classrooms, and when the girls arrived for class, they were poisoned. He did not mention the substance used or which group carried out the act, stating that the girls were transferred to the hospital but that 'they are in good condition' and no one has been arrested. During the previous Western-backed government in Afghanistan, several attacks, including suspicious gas attacks, occurred at girls' schools to poison female students. In Iran, following the death of Mahsa Amini and the onset of protests against compulsory hijab and the actions of the 'morality police' and the Islamic Republic as a whole, about 13,000 students, mostly girls, were reported sick due to similar attacks, according to Reuters. Since regaining power in 2021, the Taliban has prevented more female students from attending high school and university. The Taliban has kept primary schools open for girls up to about 12 years old and claims to support girls' education under certain conditions. The Taliban has detained several women protesting the ban on girls' education. Protests by women in Kabul have included slogans for work, bread, and freedom; the Taliban fired live ammunition. The continuation of poisonings in schools in Iran has led Amnesty International to state that millions of schoolgirls are at risk. The ongoing series of poisonings of students in Iran has intensified the hypothesis of 'intentionality.'