The Taliban have turned Southeast Afghanistan and tribal areas of Pakistan into a polio-infected zone, providing refuge for the demon of poliovirus. This demon once declared defeated by the world, is regaining strength in these regions. In the previous year, there were two documented polio cases globally, both originating in Taliban-infiltrated areas: one in the tribal areas of Pakistan and the other in southeast Afghanistan.
As we approach the midpoint of 2023, reports of the fourth polio case in Nangarhar province have surfaced. The victim, a four-year-old child, will suffer permanent paralysis. It is likely that the number of cases is higher across Afghanistan and the border regions with Pakistan, raising concerns of escalating casualties by year-end. Although the Taliban claim to not obstruct the polio eradication campaign and allow health organizations to administer vaccines nationwide, their restrictions on women activists and disruption of healthcare and education systems have limited people’s access to vital immunizations and healthcare services. Moreover, the Taliban’s longstanding opposition to education, schools, and non-Taliban values has deeply influenced the mindset of the population. Their impact on people’s minds is far more perilous than their physical weaponry. They propagate a society resistant to knowledge and liberation from ignorance, establishing centers of ignorance in schools and mosques. They consistently denounce educational institutions, universities, non-curricular books, and rational thinking. Consequently, society has been plunged into poverty and afflicted by diseases that were once only known through literature.
The rising number of polio victims serves as a clear indication of society’s regression. The Taliban wage a war against the enlightenment, instilling insecurity and peril into every aspect of people’s lives in the country. Individuals are left abandoned to terrorism and backwardness, inevitably leading to devastation and death. Should Taliban rule persist, diseases such as measles, smallpox, diphtheria, and tuberculosis may once again loom over the entire nation, claiming tens of thousands of lives annually. However, the true danger lies not solely within these diseases themselves. The primary peril stems from the viral mentality engulfing society, suffocating the potential of children, generating unemployment and idleness, and transforming the nation’s youth into ignorant yet fiercely loyal adversaries.
Considering that no other place in the world, apart from Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, experiences such levels of backwardness and deprivation, and that this year, polio cases were confined to these two regions alone, there may be a glimmer of hope for the arrival of progress and prosperity. However, our understanding of recent history tells us that transcending this stage will not happen automatically or without internal effort. It is possible that for decades and centuries, this corner of the earth, akin to a forbidden zone and a land of calamities, will remain “untouched,” causing generations to suffer in the flames of illiteracy, poverty, and hunger. Escaping this situation requires our relentless pursuit. We must unite in our support for education, employment, and freedom while steering clear of peripheral issues and avoiding tensions that disrupt our primary priorities for survival.