Taliban Now Support Polio Vaccination Campaigns
In a turn of face, both the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban are promoting polio vaccinations in their countries.
By Jonathan Weiss | May 13, 2013 04:49 PM EDT
The United Nations has made a final push to eliminate polio from the face of the planet by 2017, but has faced immense opposition in the three remaining countries where the virus remains endemic, namely Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria.
In April, the Pakistani Taliban (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP) had announced its support for vaccination campaigns within Afghanistan and said that it would not oppose vaccination campaigns. Polio vaccine workers have been killed in the three countries that still have rampant virus infections because of rumors that the vaccination spreads sterility and HIV, and because the CIA plan that caught and killed Osama Bin laden used a fake vaccination program to gain DNA samples from the terrorist leader's family members.
"If they can convince us that these polio drops are Islamic and the spy agencies are not using it to kill our fighters, we would have no opposition to any vaccination drive which is in the public interest," TTP spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, told Dawn.com.
"We are ready to support the drive if our apprehensions are removed. We will not oppose it if it is ensured it [polio campaign] is not used for serving the United States and other foreign interests," he continued. At the same time Ehsan denied that the Pakistani Taliban had any part in the murder of polio vaccine workers, but stated that they did have their reservations about the program. "We will not attack any public welfare institution and non-military installations."
http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/15483/20130513/taliban-poliovaccinations-talibanpolio-afghanisanpolio.htm
The Taliban has never been reluctant to embrace a controversial position.