Some of the people who voted in Afghanistan’s recent election are paying a heavy price for exercising their rights:
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) — Making good on a threat of election day violence, the Taliban sliced off the index fingers of at least two people in Kandahar province, according to a vote monitoring group.
After they cast their ballots, the fingers of Afghan voters are stained with ink to prevent them from voting multiple times. The fingers of the two women in Kandahar, a stronghold of the Taliban, were cut off because they voted, said Nader Naderi of the Free and Fair Election Foundation.
The Taliban had vowed to disrupt Thursday’s election and the risk was too great for some Afghans to venture out, especially in the southern provinces that form the heartland of the radical Islamist group.
The fact that anyone went out to vote at all is something worth commending.
