- KABUL (Reuters) -
Afghanistan's
ruling Taliban accused the United States on Monday of using chemical
weapons
and invited foreign observers to check the claim.
-
- But one deputy minister acknowledged that the
war-shattered
country did not have the facilities to test for chemical use.
-
- "We have some patients with superficial injuries
with symptoms of chemical weapons," doctor Wazir of Kabul's Wazir
Akbar Khan hospital, told a news conference.
-
- Public Health Minister Mullah Abbas also said the
hardline
Muslim militia had proof that chemical weapons were being used.
-
- "Our findings prove that this is true. These
bombardments
have radioactive rays and chemical materials that also cause cancer,"
he told the same news conference.
-
- Both men cited cases of chemical poisoning. None of the
claims could be independently verified.
-
- Deputy public health minister, Sher Mohammad Abbas
Stanikzai,
said the government did not having testing facilities and would welcome
outside observers.
-
- "If there are more cases coming, we hope to be able
to invite delegations to verify it and test it," he told Reuters
Television.
-
- Doctors said such cases had been reported in several
hospitals across Afghanistan, and Stanikzai cited between 10 and 15
cases.
-
- "We can give details to people and doctors who
understand
for explanation. But we have several cases of acute diarrhea and also cases
of breathing problems. In some of the cases it happened that people
died,"
Stanikzai said.
-
- "We do not have sophisticated laboratories in
Afghanistan
to test the blood of people and analyze it," he said, adding that
the Taliban could not trust neighboring countries to carry out the testing
because they backed U.S.-led attacks against them.
-
- Wazir described the case of a 10-year-old boy with
superficial
wounds, but with respiratory problems who died after six hours.
-
- He said a 50-year-old woman who had minor injuries had
also died.
-
- "They were both toxic cases," he said. "We
don't have the ability to make a diagnosis, but clinically we see symptoms
as such."
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