The United Nations Children’s Fund would be agreeing on the way to leave educational programs in the hands of the new local authorities. Meanwhile, however, the head of the country’s religious institutes announced that five jihadist madrasahs have been founded in different provinces in the last year.
Kabul ( / Agencies) – The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) has announced that it is discussing with the Taliban “times and practicalities” to transfer its educational programs to local authorities. However, in the last year the government has founded five “jihad madrasas”.
The Taliban retook Afghanistan in August 2021 when US-led troops withdrew. They immediately banned higher education for girls and women from working for NGOs, and now they want to kick out international agencies that work in education.
In a statement, Unicef explained that the current Taliban education minister has ensured the continuity of the educational program – which includes 500,000 students – during talks between the international organization and the de facto authorities. “As the reference organization for education in Afghanistan, UNICEF is having constructive discussions with the de facto education ministry and appreciates their commitment to keep up with all the classes that are being held,” Samantha Mort, spokesperson for the Children’s Fund in Afghanistan, told Reuters. .
However, in recent days some Taliban officials announced the creation of five “jihad madrasas” in different provinces of the country. They are schools that in the past served to train suicide bombers and to teach children to use weapons. The issue was raised during a meeting that took place two days ago at the Kabul presidential palace between the Taliban interior minister and the head of jihadist schools, Abdul Wahid Tariq.
“In these madrasahs, the youth are only taught extremism, suicide, bombing and killing people,” former MP Abdul Sattar Hussaini told Amu. “The establishment of jihadist madrasahs implies the continuation of a jihadist mentality in the Taliban, a paramilitary group that always believes in war, massacres, violence and hatred,” added Wais Nasiri, a political analyst.
According to other statements of Taliban officials (true to its name, which means “students of the Koran”), nearly 300 religious schools have sprung up in the northeastern province of Takhar alone in the past two years. In the official records of the Ministry of Education there are 1,200 madrasas and the Taliban have announced their intention to build at least 10 in each district of the country, for a total of more than 4,000 religious schools. Official records do not indicate the number of institutes specifically dedicated to Islamic jihad.
