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GUEST: Zama Coursen-Neff, Senior researcher with the children’s rights division at Human Rights Watch

The US-backed Afghan government of Hamid Karzai just approved a proposal to revive the Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The proposal came from Afghanistan’s Ulema council of clerics, and will go before the Afghan Parliament for approval. The Virtue and Vice Department was one of the most horrifying aspects of the Taliban government, whose morality police routinely punished women and men for not adhering to dress codes, consuming alcohol, watching television, or even flying kites. However, the Department first originated in the early 1990s under the Mujahideen government, formed by former US proteges. Meanwhile, in April of this year the Chicago Tribune reported a stunning fact about education in Afghanistan. Despite Bush administration statements over the last few years about large numbers of Afghan girls going to school, dozens of schools have faced vicious attacks reminiscent of the Taliban era. According to the Ministry of Education up to 50 schools have been set on fire, and more than 300 have shut down out of fear. In a new report, Human Rights Watch concludes that “attacks on all aspects of the education process sharply increased in late 2005 and the first half of 2006.” The report is entitled “Lessons in Terror: Attacks on Education in Afghanistan.”

Read the HRW Report here.