10 Arrested In Acid Attack On Afghan Girls

Several Confess To Attacking School Girls; Government Calls Attack "Un-Islamic"

(AP)  Afghan police have arrested 10 Taliban militants involved in an acid attack against 15 girls and teachers walking to school in southern Afghanistan, a provincial governor said Tuesday.

"Several" of the arrested militants have confessed to taking part in the attack earlier this month, said Kandahar Gov. Rahmatullah Raufi. He declined to say exactly how many confessed.

High-ranking Taliban fighters paid the militants a total of $2,000 to carry out the attack, Raufi said. The attackers came from Pakistan but were Afghan nationals, said Doud Doud, an Interior Ministry official.

The attackers squirted acid from water bottles onto three groups of students and teachers walking to school in Kandahar city on Nov. 12. Several girls suffered burns to the face and were hospitalized. One teenager couldn't open her eyes days after the attack, which sparked condemnation from around the world.

Afghanistan's government called the attack "un-Islamic," while the U.N. labeled it "a hideous crime." U.S. first lady Laura Bush decried it as cowardly.

Kandahar is the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban regime, the hard-line Islamists who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, and one of Afghanistan's most conservative regions, a place where women rarely venture far from home.

A Taliban spokesman earlier this month denied that Taliban militants were involved in the attack.

Girls were banned from schools under Taliban rule, and women were only allowed to leave the house wearing a body-hiding burqa and accompanied by a male family member.

The country has made a major push to improve access to education for girls since the Taliban's ouster. Fewer than 1 million Afghan children - mostly boys - attended school under Taliban rule. Roughly 6 million Afghan children, including 2 million girls, attend school today.

But many conservative families still keep their girls at home.

Raufi said girls attending Mirwais Mena girls' school didn't attend class for three days after the attack, but have since returned.

Kandahar province's schools serve 110,000 students at 232 schools, Raufi said. But only 10 of the 232 are for girls. Some 26,000 girls go to school, he said.

Arsonists have repeatedly attacked girls' schools and gunmen killed two students walking outside a girls' school in central Logar province last year. UNICEF says there were 236 school-related attacks in Afghanistan in 2007.

The Afghan government has also accused the Taliban of attacking schools in an attempt to force teenage boys into the Islamic militia.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, the country's intelligence agency said it has arrested four people, including three religious leaders and a youth, for alleged involvement in suicide and other bomb attacks in northern Kunduz province.

The ring was broken up after a failed bombing mission in the province earlier this year when the would-be bomber failed to properly detonate his explosives, the agency said in a statement Tuesday.

[grandesign]

UNICEF says there were 236 school-related attacks in Afghanistan in 2007.

So Taliban belivers seek to prevent the education of the children of Afghanistan. Because they will learn that the Taliban is a hate group, intolerant to a modern society, and devoted to the failure of America''s assistance in the face of evil. You know it because it''s true. This isn''t some GOP or far right hyperbole, it''s ignorance seeking to keep others more ignorant.

[grandesign]

This attack isn''''t "un-Islamic", it''''s INHUMAN.
Posted by miriambk at 09:51 AM : Nov 26, 2008

Ths SAME THING!

[grandesign]

These are the actions that dumb fvck Mike Totten believes should be allowed, since this is their countrymen doing what''s right. Such confused thinking.

[anifylibby]

dont worry..the liberals will come in with guns blazing to save them

[miriambk]

This attack isn''t "un-Islamic", it''s INHUMAN. This is animalistic behavior, and how are wild and threatning animals usually handled? EXACTLY.

[fush2]

deathofUSA

deathofusa??? what are you dumb???

[downsteamjim]

The U.N. labeled it ''a hideous crime.'' Now that is decisive action.

[displeased]

Just people like you I guess!
Posted by notblue

I don''t defend oppression against women. There was nothing in my post that indicated that. How can anyone make up things to support an ineffective rant? Just people like you I guess!

[notblue]

Displeased, these Muslim barbarians threw acid in little girls faces because the girls were attemting to gat an education! How can anyone defend, deflect, or midigate this savage action? Just people like you I guess!

[displeased]

IF THEY WERE CHRISTIANS,THEY WOULD BE DOING JUST THE OPPOSITE AND MAKING SURE THESE CARED FOR.
Posted by darnedsocks

Lets see...I think it was last Spring when a church wouldn''t allow a female to referee a boys basketball game because "females don''t have authority over boys". Also, isn''t it the christians who resist teaching science in high school science class? Possibly because they are anti-knowledge and anti-education because new (and old) discoveries go against their beliefs?

[c-mo6]

darnedsocks. STOP YELLING!

[displeased]

It will never happen. You will have democraps crying and saying that Americans are killing innocent people in Afghanistan and all around the world.
Posted by deathofUSA

When has ANYBODY complained about taking out Taliban and/or Al Quaeda? Your political agenda is causing delusions.

[deathofusa]

Being a member of the Taliban should be crime where you can just kill them on sight. Similar as to what should happen to any gang who promotes terriorism and crimes againts humanity.
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Posted by ahrats at 06:37 AM : Nov 25, 2008


It will never happen. You will have democraps crying and saying that Americans are killing innocent people in Afghanistan and all around the world.

[deathofusa]

Why is this a story? Americans don''t care what is happening in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq. American''s don''t care that women are treated worse than a dog in those countries. Americans do not want to be bothered with other people''s problems. Americans only care about Hurricane Katrina and what the government can do for them. Too bad ladies. You are on your own.

[darnedsocks]

WHY DO CHARACTERS ALWAYS DISAPPEAR AFTER CLICKING ON THE PUBLISH BUTTON?! IT IS SO IRRITATING TO SEE YOUR TEXT COME UP HERE WITH WORDS OR CHARACTERS MISSING!

[darnedsocks]

THERE WAS NO REASON TO DO THIS. THESE PEOPLE ARE SICK! I FEEL SO SORRY FOR THOSE GIRLS. THEIR BEAUTIFUL FACES RUINED! FOR WHAT? TOTALLY INSANE AND USELESS. IT SERVED NO PURPOSE AT ALL, EXCEPT TO TERRORIZE. DESTRUCTIVE AND MEANINGLESS. IF THEY WERE CHRISTIANS,THEY WOULD BE DOING JUST THE OPPOSITE AND MAKING SURE THESE CARED FOR. THE MOST SUCCESSFUL SOCIETIES THROUGHOUT HISTORY ARE THOSE THAT PROPERLY CARE FOR AND ELEVATE THEIR WOMEN AND CHILDREN -- NOT DESTROY THEM.

[darnedsocks]

ISLAM IS OF THE DEVIL.

[kretosdav]

Al Ciada works well !

[kretosdav]

Al Ciada works well !

[ahrats]

Being a member of the Taliban should be crime where you can just kill them on sight. Similar as to what should happen to any gang who promotes terriorism and crimes againts humanity.