Afghan Ambassador Urges Action At Taliban Assault On Schools And Staff
The Canadian Press / May 7, 2008
OTTAWA — Afghanistan’s ambassador to Canada calls a rash of attacks on schools in his country an alarming bid to derail progress that demands action.
“We need to realize the gravity of this escalation,” Omar Samad said Wednesday in an interview. “Some hard decisions have to be made as to whether we’re going to allow our children and our teachers to be targets of terrorism.”
“We need to figure out who supports the Taliban in such drastic attacks and who doesn’t. And a decision has to be made as to who you reach out to and who you cannot reach out to. This is a test.”
Samad said there have been several attacks on schools over the last two years and it’s too soon to tell whether this year will be much worse.
A report published Wednesday cites 36 sabotage incidents in the last two months, including fire-bombings, arson, staff assaults and abductions. It said the security situation is so bad that nearly half the schools in Kandahar are closed some or all of the time.
Samad said the report sounds credible and that similar attacks are taking place along the Afghan border with Pakistan.
The London Times article also describes the mutilation of a school caretaker whose ears and nose were cut off because he collaborated with the Afghan government.
“This is part of a pattern of targeted attacks on institutions and certain groups of people in society to instill fear,” Samad said.
“It is also politically motivated by those groups that do not want to see Afghanistan progress and its people live in peace and prosperity.”
He blames ‘ignorant’ forces bent on dragging Afghanistan back to the days before Sept. 11 terrorist attacks when the Taliban ruled with an iron fist.
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