Afghan bombing targets girls

Islam News – Powerful explosions outside a high school in Kabul killed at least 50 people and wounded scores more, many of whom were teenage girls. The attack underscored growing fears that the American troop withdrawal would leave women, and their educational and social gains, particularly vulnerable.

The high school hosts classes for boys in the morning and for girls in the afternoon. A car bomb detonated around 4 p.m., right as the girls were leaving class. As students rushed out, two more bombs exploded, a government spokesman said.

The presidential palace blamed the Taliban, which denied responsibility and condemned the attack. The massacre has driven home the uncomfortable reality that, as American troops depart, there has been more chaos than accord and more fear than hope.

The bombing happened in Shiite Hazara neighborhood, an ethnic minority often persecuted by the Taliban. “The only option is to take up guns,” a mourner said. “We just buried an 11-year-old girl. What is her crime?”
In the power vacuum, many fear the Taliban will soon try to seize power. Even if the insurgents reach an unlikely peace deal with the Afghan government, their harsh Islamist strictures, including keeping girls out of school, could again become the mainstream.

Source: The New York Times