VICE News
Taliban Cut Off Voters' Fingers: Elections in Afghanistan (Dispatch 3)
2014 • E94 Jun 20, 2014 10m
In our third dispatch from Afghanistan, VICE News travels to the province of Herat to see the aftereffects of the election that took place June 14. Although polling went fairly smoothly in Kabul, voters elsewhere in the country were repeatedly targeted by the Taliban; as many as 50 Afghans were killed. Others had their fingers, still black with telltale ink after voting, cut off by Taliban fighters. VICE News visited the hospital in Herat to speak with several victims being treated there. Fearing further harm, some of them agreed to speak with us only if they covered their faces and hid their identity. Despite the violence, many of the villagers remained defiant. "If I lost all the 10 fingers on my hands to vote, I'd still vote again," one 60-year-old farmer told VICE News. "Because it is our right."