Mystery School Poisonings in Afghanistan

Mystery still surrounds the identity of those behind a spate of schoolgirl poisonings in Afghanistan, with parents increasingly frightened of sending their daughters to school in the face of what seem to be gas attacks.

In the most recent case, 48 students and teachers at the Zabihullah Esmati High School in Kabul suffered poisoning on August 28, three days after dozens of students were affected by a similar attack in the same area.

Maniza, the high school’s deputy head, told IWPR that she was walking along a corridor that morning when she noticed a strange smell. Students and teachers began screaming and she passed out as she tried to get away.

“When I regained consciousness, I was in hospital,” she said.

The last two years have seen similar incidents in the Parwan, Sar-e Pol, Balkh, Kandahar, Kunduz, Ghazni and Kapisa provinces. There have been no fatalities, but girls have reported dizziness, nausea and fainting.

No one has come forward to claim responsibility in any of those cases.

Responding to the latest attacks in Kabul, education ministry spokesman Gul Agha Ahmadi Wardak said that investigations were still continuing.

“We can say only that it is being done by enemies of education and development in Afghanistan,” he said.

Interior ministry spokesman Zmarai Bashari said police had arrested several people in connection with the alleged poisonings in Kabul, but could not yet share details with the media.

“The interior ministry’s leadership has ordered the police to investigate the students poisoning cases seriously,” he said, adding that blood samples from those affected had been sent for laboratory checks.

Public health officials said that in similar cases in Kunduz and Kabul provinces, investigators had found traces of organophosphates in blood samples.

“We sent the samples to Turkey to find which chemicals were used in the poisoning incident,” said Nur Oghli, a spokesman for the health ministry.

Organophosphates are commonly found in herbicides and pesticides and symptoms of exposure to them could include dizziness, nausea and respiratory problems.

The Taleban have denied responsibility for the poisoning incidents. A spokesman for the movement, Zabihullah Mujaheed, told IWPR in a telephone interview that such attacks were expressly forbidden.

“Although we do not accept that girls can study in wartime, we condemn the poisoning of these innocent girls and boys, and if we arrest the culprits we will punish them,” he said.

Wahed Mujhda, a writer and political analyst, said that he too did not believe the Taleban were behind for the poisonings.

“Those who are against the Taleban may be behind the poisonings. They want to feed animosity against the Taleban at a time when peace talks are going on,” he said, adding that the insurgents had other ways of attacking their enemies.

The attacks seem to be achieving what is presumably their intended effect – discouraging female education.

Samiullah, whose daughter is a student at the Zabihullah Esmati school, said that he was considering keeping her at home if conditions did not improve.

“It is totally the fault of the government,” he said. “They cannot stop the explosions, they cannot secure the schools, and if things go on like this, I will never let my daughter go to school. My daughter’s life is more important than her education.”

Lailuman, a pupil at the Aftaba High School in Kapisa province, said the number of girls attending had gone down since the school was attacked with poison gas two months ago.

“There are 650 girls at our school, but after that incident nearly half those students stopped going to school,” he said.

Hekmatullah, a resident of Khushk in Ghazni province, said that following a number of poisoning cases there and in and other provinces, 13 pupils in his district had been taken of school by their parents.

“I stopped my niece who was in sixth grade,” he said. “If the honour and security of our girls is not guaranteed, their studies will do us no good.”

Habiburrahman Ibrahimi is an IWPR-trained journalist in Kabul.