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KABUL—Relations between the United Nations and the Afghan government have deteriorated over the suggestion by a U.N. official that Afghanistan's intelligence agency used torture to extract confessions in its investigation of mysterious illnesses striking schoolgirls.
Hundreds of schoolgirls have been hospitalized in Afghanistan in recent weeks, reporting symptoms such as dizziness, fainting and nausea. Afghan authorities have blamed the incidents on poisonings by insurgents opposed to the education of females.
The Taliban have denied responsibility for the incidents. In a June statement, the Taliban decried what they called a media
war that was being waged through the "false allegations of the invaders and their hired media."
U.S. officials said the tests they have carried out showed that the illnesses in girls' schools were caused by naturally occurring pathogens, suggesting that any sickness wasn't intentionally spread.
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European Pressphoto AgencyAfghan schoolgirls receive treatment after more than 300 fell ill at a school in the city of Jowzjan on July 2.
The National Directorate of Security, or NDS, Afghanistan's domestic intelligence agency, announced the arrest last month of several suspects, including two young girls it alleged to have been involved in a Taliban plot to poison schoolgirls in the northern province of Takhar.
James Rodehaver, the official in charge of the human-rights unit at the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, raised concerns about whether suspects in the Takhar case had been coerced, in comments reported in recent days by international news organizations including Newsweek and Agence France-Presse.
Mr. Rodehaver also criticized Afghan authorities for releasing videotaped confessions, which he described as a violation of due process and the right to a fair trial.
Such criticism isn't new. The U.N. last year released a report documenting what it said was the torture and mistreatment of detainees by the NDS and Afghan police. But Mr. Rodehaver's most recent comments provoked a sharp response from the Afghan intelligence service.
In a statement, the NDS called Mr. Rodehaver's remarks baseless and accused U.N. officials of providing moral support to the Taliban by denying that insurgents were involved in the alleged school poisonings.
The U.N.'s latest criticism, the statement said, was the equivalent to "launching of a psychological war against the Afghan security forces."
Mr. Rodehaver couldn't be reached to comment.
Tensions have long simmered between the Afghan government and the international agencies that hold its purse strings. At an international conference in Tokyo on Sunday, donor nations pledged at least $16 billion in development aid through 2015 for Afghanistan—provided the Afghan government makes efforts to boost the rule of law.
International organizations have repeatedly questioned the Afghan authorities' poisoning theory. A World Health Organization official said the organization concluded the outbreak of illnesses was a case of "mass hysteria," not poisoning.
"After collecting samples, we came to the conclusion that this was not intentional school poisoning," the official said.
Reports of alleged girls' school poisonings have regularly surfaced in Afghanistan over recent years. The Afghan government hasn't report any confirmed deaths in these incidents.
Not all Afghan officials seem to agree on the cause of such incidents. Amanullah Iman, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of Education, said the country had seen "some cases of mass hysteria this year." The incidents, he said, "were not planned poisonings, and were accidents."
Mr. Iman added, however, that "some people have been doing this intentionally" and that the outbreaks of mass illness were planned.
"We don't have the resources to find out who is behind it," he said. "It's the security organizations' responsibility to find out who is doing this."
Local officials, however, insist that this isn't a case of mass hysteria. Abdul Jabar Taqwa, the governor of Takhar, disputed recent reports dismissing the poisoning allegations.
"We strongly deny those remarks," he said. "Those are baseless."
Citing the confessions, he said alleged plotters were paid to spread poisonous powder, and that the alleged ringleader, a mullah, had been arrested.
"We detained the mullah, we found the warehouse where all these chemicals were stocked," he said. "Some of the girls are still in the hospitals, in Takhar, Kabul and in Pakistan. We seek mercy for those girl victims. What else could be the evidence?"
Write to Nathan Hodge at nathan.hodge@wsj.com
KABUL—Relations between the United Nations and the Afghan government have deteriorated over the suggestion by a U.N. official that Afghanistan's intelligence agency used torture to extract confessions in its investigation of mysterious illnesses striking schoolgirls.
Hundreds of schoolgirls have been hospitalized in Afghanistan in recent weeks, reporting symptoms such as dizziness, fainting and nausea. Afghan authorities have blamed the incidents on poisonings by insurgents opposed to the education of females.
The Taliban have denied responsibility for the incidents. In a June statement, the Taliban decried what they called a media
war that was being waged through the "false allegations of the invaders and their hired media."
U.S. officials said the tests they have carried out showed that the illnesses in girls' schools were caused by naturally occurring pathogens, suggesting that any sickness wasn't intentionally spread.
Enlarge Image
CloseEuropean Pressphoto AgencyAfghan schoolgirls receive treatment after more than 300 fell ill at a school in the city of Jowzjan on July 2.
The National Directorate of Security, or NDS, Afghanistan's domestic intelligence agency, announced the arrest last month of several suspects, including two young girls it alleged to have been involved in a Taliban plot to poison schoolgirls in the northern province of Takhar.
James Rodehaver, the official in charge of the human-rights unit at the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, raised concerns about whether suspects in the Takhar case had been coerced, in comments reported in recent days by international news organizations including Newsweek and Agence France-Presse.
Mr. Rodehaver also criticized Afghan authorities for releasing videotaped confessions, which he described as a violation of due process and the right to a fair trial.
Such criticism isn't new. The U.N. last year released a report documenting what it said was the torture and mistreatment of detainees by the NDS and Afghan police. But Mr. Rodehaver's most recent comments provoked a sharp response from the Afghan intelligence service.
In a statement, the NDS called Mr. Rodehaver's remarks baseless and accused U.N. officials of providing moral support to the Taliban by denying that insurgents were involved in the alleged school poisonings.
The U.N.'s latest criticism, the statement said, was the equivalent to "launching of a psychological war against the Afghan security forces."
Mr. Rodehaver couldn't be reached to comment.
Tensions have long simmered between the Afghan government and the international agencies that hold its purse strings. At an international conference in Tokyo on Sunday, donor nations pledged at least $16 billion in development aid through 2015 for Afghanistan—provided the Afghan government makes efforts to boost the rule of law.
International organizations have repeatedly questioned the Afghan authorities' poisoning theory. A World Health Organization official said the organization concluded the outbreak of illnesses was a case of "mass hysteria," not poisoning.
"After collecting samples, we came to the conclusion that this was not intentional school poisoning," the official said.
Reports of alleged girls' school poisonings have regularly surfaced in Afghanistan over recent years. The Afghan government hasn't report any confirmed deaths in these incidents.
Not all Afghan officials seem to agree on the cause of such incidents. Amanullah Iman, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Ministry of Education, said the country had seen "some cases of mass hysteria this year." The incidents, he said, "were not planned poisonings, and were accidents."
Mr. Iman added, however, that "some people have been doing this intentionally" and that the outbreaks of mass illness were planned.
"We don't have the resources to find out who is behind it," he said. "It's the security organizations' responsibility to find out who is doing this."
Local officials, however, insist that this isn't a case of mass hysteria. Abdul Jabar Taqwa, the governor of Takhar, disputed recent reports dismissing the poisoning allegations.
"We strongly deny those remarks," he said. "Those are baseless."
Citing the confessions, he said alleged plotters were paid to spread poisonous powder, and that the alleged ringleader, a mullah, had been arrested.
"We detained the mullah, we found the warehouse where all these chemicals were stocked," he said. "Some of the girls are still in the hospitals, in Takhar, Kabul and in Pakistan. We seek mercy for those girl victims. What else could be the evidence?"
Write to Nathan Hodge at nathan.hodge@wsj.com