Taliban Closes Dozens of Afghan Schools
The Taliban has shuttered or partially shuttered about 50 schools in southeastern Afghanistan this week, a bold display of the insurgency’s power in a part of the country now at the center of the U.S. war effort.
The closings apparently were in response to an Afghan government decision to ban motorcycles in the southern districts of Ghazni province. In the fall, officials in Ghazni outlawed the use of the vehicles after insurgents used unmarked bikes to carry out attacks on civilians and local authorities.
In Afghanistan, underground girls’ schools defy Taliban: In Spina, a mountain village in eastern Afghanistan, girls attend an informal school in a family’s living room, defying a Taliban edict. The country has many areas where formal efforts to educate women and girls have crumbled in the face of threats from insurgents.
The ban, which is supported by the United States and its allies, has drastically restricted insurgents’ movements, according to Afghan security officials, and increased friction between the Taliban and the government.
Militants responded this week by warning educators and families to keep children at home, Afghan officials said. The message spread quickly through traditional social networks. Of the 36,000 students who usually attend schools in southern Ghazni, about half have yielded to the Taliban threat, officials said.
“In response to the motorcycle ban, they spread the message through elders and mosques saying children should not go to school,” said an official at the Afghan Education Ministry.
By Thursday, dozens of schools across southern Ghazni — for girls as well as boys — were either empty or sparsely attended, according to the ministry.