Contact Admin. Afghan school girls receive first aid after inhaling some mysterious poisonous gas in Jowzjan city in Sheberghan province, Afghanistan, July 2, On April 17, girls were transported from their school in the Afghan province of Takhar to a hospital, reporting signs of dizziness, nausea and headaches.
Some fainted, and some were vomiting when they arrived; all were released after a few hours. A month later, at least more girls and three teachers in the same province complained of the same symptoms and were again taken in. The next week, girls in Taluquan, the capital of Takhar province, reported being ill. School poisonings have been going on for over three years in Afghanistan β but the recent spate marks a large increase from years past.
On June 6, the Afghan government officially accused the Taliban of poisoning hundreds of girls across the country. But results from chemical testings of school wells and samples taken from the afflicted students show no strange toxins; analysts also suggest that the Taliban do not possess the sophistication to create chemicals that would leave no trace.
Still, one man has since confessed to paying girls to take chemicals in their schools. Women of Afghanistan Under Taliban Threat. Meanwhile, the Afghan Taliban denies that they would target young girls despite their open opposition to the education of girls and women. They blame Pakistani infiltrators. Still others, the World Health Organization included, say there have been no poisonings at all as there is, indeed, no concrete evidence that has been found and that young girls are simply experiencing the somewhat rare phenomenon of mass hysteria from living in a war-torn country their entire lives.
The evidence for mass hysteria is in fact fairly convincing. There is also the strange fact that very few teachers have been affected by whatever this mystery malady is. According to Naderi, these poisonings are part of a spring offensive by the Taliban that includes burning down schools and killing teachers.
