c.crawford
01-24-2009, 03:35 PM
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Teenage girls in blue and green burqas pour into the schoolyard, where they pull off their coverings, stuff them in their book bags and head to class. It almost seems as if the acid attacks never happened.
But though classes have resumed, the students, their parents and the school's principal remain on edge two months later. The principal says better security promised by the government hasn't come. Some girls are too afraid to tell reporters their names or let their pictures be taken.
In November, three teams of men on motorbikes sprayed acid from squirt guns and water bottles onto 15 schoolgirls and teachers as they walked to the Mirwais Mena girls school.
One girl's face was so badly burned that she was flown to India for treatment. Four others are still being treated at hospitals in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.
The attackers' hoped to scare girls from going to school. The Taliban and insurgents have repeatedly attacked schools and children.
A sense of wary vigilance pervades the school. Many of the students and teachers refused to let an Associated Press photographer take their pictures — or gave permission only if they could cover their faces.
"You shouldn't show our faces. You will get us in trouble," said a ninth-grader who refused to give her name. "I don't have a name," she said.
One of the acid attack victims, 15-year-old ______ _______ ________, said she is committed to school because Afghanistan needs more education.
_____ said she gets threats from the men charged with the attacks. "They are being held by the police, but still they send threats through other people, saying, 'If our men are sentenced we won't let you live.'"
Qaderi said his relatives abroad are constantly warning him he is in danger and he should quit. He says he plans to stay, but worries the girls may start drifting away because of security.
"All these things that I promised to the parents on behalf of the government, they are not happening," he said.
3653
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27901460/
But though classes have resumed, the students, their parents and the school's principal remain on edge two months later. The principal says better security promised by the government hasn't come. Some girls are too afraid to tell reporters their names or let their pictures be taken.
In November, three teams of men on motorbikes sprayed acid from squirt guns and water bottles onto 15 schoolgirls and teachers as they walked to the Mirwais Mena girls school.
One girl's face was so badly burned that she was flown to India for treatment. Four others are still being treated at hospitals in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.
The attackers' hoped to scare girls from going to school. The Taliban and insurgents have repeatedly attacked schools and children.
A sense of wary vigilance pervades the school. Many of the students and teachers refused to let an Associated Press photographer take their pictures — or gave permission only if they could cover their faces.
"You shouldn't show our faces. You will get us in trouble," said a ninth-grader who refused to give her name. "I don't have a name," she said.
One of the acid attack victims, 15-year-old ______ _______ ________, said she is committed to school because Afghanistan needs more education.
_____ said she gets threats from the men charged with the attacks. "They are being held by the police, but still they send threats through other people, saying, 'If our men are sentenced we won't let you live.'"
Qaderi said his relatives abroad are constantly warning him he is in danger and he should quit. He says he plans to stay, but worries the girls may start drifting away because of security.
"All these things that I promised to the parents on behalf of the government, they are not happening," he said.
3653
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27901460/