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Anja Niedringhaus / AP file
A Pakistani child is given a polio vaccination by a district health team worker outside a children's hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan on May 30, 2012.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A Taliban commander in Pakistan’s tribal belt has banned a vaccination campaign against child polio in protest over frequent United States drone attacks there.
Hafiz Gul Bahadur said that the U.S.-funded vaccinations for tens of thousands of children would be outlawed until drone attacks stopped.
He also said the polio campaign could be a cover for CIA espionage – a reference to Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani doctor reported to have helped American agencies identify Osama bin Laden.
A pamphlet issued in Miranshah, North Waziristan and seen by NBC News accused the U.S. of “spending billions of rupees” on anti-polio measures while causing psychological disorders “due to drone strikes and round the clock hovering of spy planes over homes and villages”.
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“This situation created by U.S. drone strikes is more dangerous than the polio virus,” the pamphlet said.
Pakistan is one of the three countries where polio remains endemic, according to UNICEF, accounting for about 30 percent of the world’s the polio cases. During 2011, the total number of cases was 198, up from 144 cases in 2010. There have already been 15 cases since the start of 2012.
PhotoBlog: Pakistan distributes polio vaccine
Out of the seven tribal regions, North Waziristan was perhaps one of the only places where local Ulema - or religious scholars - had issued a decree in favor of polio drops for children. The Taliban had also guaranteed the security of vaccination teams.
Afridi, a Pakistan government doctor working for the CIA, used a vaccination campaign as a cover to collect DNA samples from Osama bin Laden's family members in Abbottabad – a move that helped identify the al-Qaeda leader, paving the way for his killing in May 2011.
Afridi was given a 33-year prison term for treason following a trial last month.
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Leave a Comment:
i think this is great news they take care of thier own and we keep our nose out of other peoples business and take care of our own, we can no longer afford to support the world and keep playing world cop !!!!!!!!!!!
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE are all much wealthier per capita than the US. They should be funding these programs for the countries which are both closer geographically and culturally.
yah, 2 of them Kuwait and UAE are sometimes ahead of us on richest per capita lists, sometimes not, and they should be doing more than they are now. Even given that their tiny populations meant their total wealth isn't that high. They have plenty of surplus per person.
As long as they aren't hurting themselves. Oh wait, is the ban just on girl children, or on their boy children, too?
It appears to be all children.
I see no difference in the GOP trying to stop Healthcare for millions of families, but wanting to increase Military Spending or giving more tax cuts to the Rich........can't have both they say....and they pick the Military and more money for the most fortunate.
Try keeping on topic.
PDug is proof that polio not only affects the legs.
I am totally on Topic....... The GOP would rather deny healthcare to millions of people and kids but will increase Military spending.........
I see no difference at all........Putting military issues over health issues...
PDug, that's because you're a hysterical Marxist/Nazi though. Right and wrong comes down simply to who supports your latest garbage government program.
Chestypuller,
People like you are the first one's to scream for help when and if were to lose everything and needed help.........Not only would you scream the loudest, you would demand it at Gun point...
Kids have healthcare available to them thru state run programs. You are as bad as any right wing nut.
lulu98,
You are very very very wrong.......Not all kids have access to free healthcare. state run programs do not take all kids....there are kids that are left out.....also, .....and because of President Obama there are now thousands of kids who had diseases that were considered pre-existing conditions that are now covered who were not before......cancer, diabetes, etc....
My daughter for example was denied healthcare because of ONE concussion....now has healthcare because of President Obama's healthcare bill... we could afford to pay for her, but she was denied by BCBS.....said she was uninsurable.... I would bet you do not have any experience with this issue that hits close to home...
Look, I want healthcare for all but some of the stuff in the healthcare bill is stupid. They have already had to repeal the reporting of vendor purchases ocer $600 and they will have to repeal the tax on medical devices. That and similar parts just make no sense. Too many pages of stuff that was not understood. Things should be simpler. Kids get to stay on parents insurance until age 26. And ,btw, many insurance carriers will keep that regardless of the SCOTUS ruling. The bill is too cumbersome as it stands.
Look, What we need is a public option, we don't need a middle man taking thousands of dollars....All the Health Insurance industry is a bill paying service for doctors and hospitals...and for that they take up to 40 to 50 percent of our premiums for profit, over blown administration fees, investors, CEO pay ....It's estimated that Just in profit over the last 10 years they have taken 500 billion dollars....That's money that could have gone to real healthcare, lower premiums and better coverage...
I am sure that everything in this bill is not perfect, that would be a miracle....but to say it's worth trashing then fixing would be setting millions of Americans back to the reality of not having a chance at Healthcare......
Many working Americans fall into the trap of making to much money to qualify for Medicad, but cannot afford the cost of Health Insurance.....These are not dead beats, they are the working class..
Have you ever heard the old saying, nothing from nothing equals nothing........You can fix something, you cannot fix nothing......Trying to get Healthcare for all has been a goal for Republican and Democratic presidents for 100 years.....At least we have a start,,,,just like SS and Medicare, they started weak and over time the programs have improved and adjustments have been made..
Your right pdug - the Repubs are just like the Taliban - but worse!
DPug, since when did SS & Medicare start weak? And over time the government has robbed these programs after years of us working class/lower class put into it. Did you miss that part where the democrats moved funds from SS to the general fund?
Patricia Larsen,
Google it.....Learn something......For example when SS was first passed it was limited....there have been many many amendments....over time.......
Do we have a drone with Hafiz Gul Bahadur name on it?
Not yet, but I'm sure they're working on it.
Okay, let's see if AG Holder's minnions looking into the recent security leaks (i. e. immunization program as cover for locating Bin Laden) will consider thisto be inconsequential fallout and not worthy of inclusion in their investigation. Ya' think?????
It takes one commie organization(Taliban) to know another(demonrats): Its the kids boss, the kids!!!!! the Taliban will kill them anyway for whatever reason, KILL the TALIBAN as FAST as we can, if we leave they will kill every kid that even looked at an American. The Taliban, Ha mas, Hezbollah and related are all scum.
Hillary says "NO" to B.O. in 2012
Wow ....class act......The tribal elders at work again. In the best interest of the Afghan people.
oops ..before everyone jumps me for saying Afghans.. * Pakistani people. I apologize .
How dare they ! We want to bomb healthy children not sick crippled ones.
these people are so stupid and hatefull that its sad just kiil em all and get it over with
I wonder what his reaction would be if he had a child afflicted with polio knowing a vaccination could have prevented it, that he blocked.
Ain't that just something? Hmmmmmm now what would a government such as Pakistan be taking orders from the Taliban if they weren't part of that Demonic group? Then there is the fact that the U.S. Government is STILL giving Pakistan somewhere close to 8 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR for something. Does any of this make sense? Well it's all just about dead on. The U.S. can't balance a budget because every penny we get we give it away to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia plus don't forget the illegal immigrants from Mexico and everywhere else. I know one thing for sure if I were a destitute black or white person I would be knocking on Obama's door about all those illegal immigrants getting his precious jobs.
What a good way to get rid of the Taliban. Let them all get polio.
ok
At least it confirms we're dealing with some idiots, with no cares of their children. Plus letting us know the drones are working. Lock and Load, look up, here's your answer your looking for.
George Bush kept singing his song "But Islam is a religion of Peace" after the airplanes hit the world trade center. If its a religion of Peace why do they insist on killing "infidels" anyone who is not muslim or anyone who refuses to convert to Islam? Bush knows as much about Islam as Colin Powell does. Powel referred to the muslims as "Islamics". The religion is Islam and the believers are "muslims" not "Islamics".
Because any group of people cannot fairly be judged by the extremists in that group. Are all Christians the same as the "god hates f**s" Westboro Baptists Church? Or that moron Terry Jones in Florida? I'm against all religions, but let's be fair here. Blaming Muslims is just like blaming the Jews, and nothing good can come of it.
As a Christian, I do not accept that the groups you sight are Christians.
Look up the words RADICAL and MILITANT and EXTREMISTS...it's NOT the whole religion...it's...once again...RADICALS and MILITANTS and EXTREMISTS.
Want me to spell those for ya?
People need to use common sense instead of jumping on every freaking hate band wagon...
We need to find a Taliban leader with at least a 5th grade education!
Good luck... most failed breast feeding.
Lol, Confussed-1578043, the taliban never make it to 5th grade. As soon as they can stand taller than their weapon, they are removed from any schooling and put on the battle field.
Didn't Osama bin Laden have polio?
There's no words for this story...disgusting pieces of flesh over there...
So, Pakistan is going to let the Taliban kill its kids! Outrageous. Pakistan will never gain the world's respect until and unless it drives the Taliban out of it's government, from among it's people and from the country entirely. A wholesale house cleaning is necessary. Palistan will become the world's pariah if it allows the Taliban to seize control and thus control the nuclear weapons.
We must understand that these people are in an almost primitive state of mind. The majority of the population is illiterate and the only book they are even allowed to read (which the majority obviously cannot) is the Koran....
Hafiz Gul Bahadur.... there is a cure for stupid you know.
Take your AK47 barrel and insert in mouth, pull trigger. That will surely cure your stupidity.
these are the leaders of our enemy
does orkin make taliban spray?
these are not people