Religious Intellectuals Society of Afghanistan: The government builds jihadi schools from the domestic budget and international aid

An organization known as the “Afghanistan Religious Intellectuals Society” has expressed concern about the growth of jihadist schools with the current government’s dominance over Afghanistan and says that the government is building jihadist schools with an extreme “Pakistani-style” curriculum using domestic funds and international aid. Last night (Saturday, 13th of Gemini), this institution published a statement saying that the Afghan government is training a new generation of fighters in these schools that will be used for foreign purposes. The Association of Religious Intellectuals of Afghanistan emphasized: “If the goal of establishing religious schools is to increase the scientific level of the society, the first step should be to meet the number needed by the country, and the schools that have been established in excess of the needs should be turned into schools that help improve people’s lives.” This institution has called the development of thoughts based on the intellectual basis of the current government in these schools as a “danger alarm”. He further warned that the increase of Jihadi schools will deepen the religious and sectarian divides and will also cause the spread of violence outside the borders of Afghanistan in the future. In the announcement, donor countries and institutions are asked to be careful that their aid is not used to build extremism promotion centers. After taking control of Afghanistan, the caretaker government has turned a number of schools and educational centers into jihadist schools. Also, about two weeks ago, the local officials in Balkh province said that they will build and open a religious (Jihad) school every week. This is despite the fact that last year the Ministry of Education announced that it will establish 3 to 10 religious schools in each district. Haider Bar, the deputy of the Women’s Affairs Department of Human Rights Watch, criticized the caretaker government’s plan at that time and said that the Afghan government did not agree to reopen girls’ schools, but they could find money to build 4244 new schools. He said that the caretaker government has decided to build thousands of religious schools in this country when 95% of Afghan people are hungry. At the same time, the caretaker government officials insist on the construction of religious schools, as the normal schools for girls have been closed for more than 600 days. The Ministry of Higher Education of the current government has also prevented Afghan women and girls from studying in universities and educational centers. In addition, women are prohibited from going to sports clubs, restaurants, public baths, examination by male doctors, traveling without Muharram and working in domestic and international non-governmental institutions.