The World Briefly

June 06, 2023

Of Cowards and Copycats

Afghanistan

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Taliban authorities are investigating the suspected poisonings of more than 80 Afghan students and teachers in the past few days, in an incident that resembles an outbreak of attacks recently on schoolgirls in neighboring Iran, the Washington Post reported.

Officials said the incidents took place at two separate schools in the country’s north, with students and teachers immediately falling unconscious after entering their classrooms.

Authorities suspect that gas may have been used and that the perpetrator had a personal grudge – although they did elaborate on possible motives for the attacks, according to Sky News.

The majority of the victims were female. All the students and teachers remain in stable conditions as of Monday.

The Afghan poisonings are similar to attacks targeting schoolgirls in Iran in recent months. Human rights groups estimate that there have been about 300 suspected gas attacks at more than 100 girls’ schools as of late April.

The situation has caused frustration among Iranian students and parents, some of whom said they would stop sending their children to school.

Girls’ education in Afghanistan has been a highly controversial topic since the Taliban took control of the country in August 2021.

While mixed classes are not uncommon in rural Afghanistan until the end of elementary school, the Taliban government has prohibited women from attending universities and closed schools for girls from the seventh grade.

The group said the bans are temporary but it has not specified when schools and universities will reopen.

This story originally appeared in the June 06, 2023 newsletter, 'Cool' Crimefighting.