Taliban insurgents have been blamed for the recent hanging of an 8-year-old boy in Afghanistan. It isn't the first time such a killing has occurred, nor is it the first time the Taliban has been blamed. And the United Nations note an increase in violence in the first half of 2011 in Afghanistan as well.
Afghanistan officials in Helmand Province have pointed the finger of blame at Taliban insurgents in the recent hanging death of a local policeman's 8-year-old son. According to AFP, local authorities issued a statement Saturday accusing the Taliban of kidnapping and "brutally" killing the boy after their demands were not met.
"Insurgents told the child's father to surrender to them with his police vehicle and staff," read the Helmand governor's office statement. "The child's father rejected the insurgents' demand and they violently killed his child."
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the hanging in a statement, CNN reported Sunday, saying "this action is not permitted in any culture or any religions." Karzai issued an order to local authorities to investigate and arrest those responsible "as soon as possible."
The Taliban have denied any involvement in the 8-year-old's death. In a telephone conversation with AFP, Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said, "As far as we are concerned, we haven't done it. This is propaganda by the puppet Kabul government."
The incident is similar to another involving the hanging death of a 7-year-old boy in June of last year. The Taliban were blamed for that hanging as well. The boy had been accused on spying for the Afghan government.
The hanging is just the latest in the Taliban's war against Western forces that began in 2001 when the U. S.-led invasion ousted the regime of dictatorial religious extremists that had controlled the Afghan government since September 1996.
According to a United Nations report issued last month, the number of civilian deaths have increased 15 percent in Afghanistan (to nearly 1,500 killed) for the first half of the year (as opposed to the first half of last year). May was an exceptionally deadly month, with the death toll rising to its highest level since the U. N. began keeping records in 2007.
The report attributed 80 percent of the deaths to the Taliban and other insurgents fighting against the Afghan government (also up 5 percent from the previous year).
Officials believe that increased casualties are not only the result of the Taliban attempting to recapture territory lost to Coalition forces over the winter but also an increased effort to take advantage of the transition period as NATO forces hand over provinces to national forces.
Helmand province was transferred to national forces last week.
(map photo credit: U. S. CIA, Wikimedia Commons)
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Comments
#1 And so?
The Taliban are now engaged in a 'campaign' of intimidation against Afghanis? And the Afghanis remain terrified of the Taliban despite the 'effectiveness' of the Surge which has 'removed' them as a force in many localities. Halmand must be one, for it was felt the Afghan forces could manage their own security there.
To 'celebrate', the Taliban attempted to steal a police vehicle, then hung the policeman's son as a reprisal. The good news is the policeman felt secure enough to deny the Taliban his truck. The bad news is the policeman wasan't as secure as he thought he was.
It's not only westerners who have a tough time understanding the Afghan situation. But if a cop can't protect his own family, how can he protect anyone else? Taliban 1, forces of denocracy and freedom 0. The boy is a pity.
#2 kill them
They deserve to die, those stinking muslims
#3 "stinking muslims"
You know that boy was probably Muslim as well. And was your reaction to the massacre in Norway "That stinking Christian?" Probably not.