The United Nations Children's Fund is reportedly discussing ways to hand over its educational programmes to Taliban authorities. For his part, a Taliban official recently announced that “jihadi madrassas” had been set up in at least five provinces.
Kabul (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) recently announced that it was holding talks with the Taliban over the “timelines and practicalities” of a possible transfer of its educational programmes to local authorities.
Since they seized power in August 2021 following US withdrawal, the Taliban have banned Afghan women from higher education and forced them to stop working with NGOs, and now want to expel international education agencies. They have also established “jihadi madrassas” in at least five provinces.
UNICEF says that it received reassurances from the Taliban education minister that existing classes teaching 500,000 students would continue during talks.
"As the lead agency for the education cluster in Afghanistan, UNICEF is engaged in constructive discussions with the de facto Ministry of Education and appreciates the commitment from the de facto minister to keep all ... classes continuing," said UNICEF's Afghanistan spokesperson, Samantha Mort, speaking to Reuters.
A Taliban official was recently quoted as saying that “jihadi madrassas” had been created in at least five provinces. In the past, such establishments trained suicide bombers and taught children how to use weapons.
The issue was raised in a meeting between Abdul Wahid Tariq, head of Taliban’s jihadi madrassas, and the Taliban’s acting chief minister Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, at the presidential palace in Kabul.
“In these madrassas young people are taught nothing but extremism, suicide, shelling and killing people," former MP Abdul Sattar Hussaini told AMU TV, a US-based Afghan multimedia channel.
“Establishing jihadi madrassas means the continuation of a jihadi mindset among Taliban or a paramilitary group that always believes in war, killing and violence and hate,” said Wais Nasiri, a political affairs analyst.
True to their name (students), the Taliban said that almost 300 madrassas have sprung up in the northeastern province of Takhar alone in the past two years.
Some 1,200 madrassas are officially registered in Afghanistan, this according to the Taliban Ministry of Education, but this is expected to rise after the Taliban announced plans to build 10 new madrassas in each district for a combined total of 4,190 new establishments.
The actual number of jihadi madrassas is unknown.