The emergence and proliferation of religious schools in Afghanistan during Taliban governance and the resulting implications for Afghanistan and the global community have received relatively little scholarly examination. Following the Taliban's re-assumption of power in August 2021, there has been a concerted effort to establish and expand religious educational institutions throughout Afghanistan. Concurrently, a strategic priority has been placed on the conversion of schools categorized as general-modern into religious entities.

The expansion of religious schools, the establishment of jihadi schools, the transformation of modern schools into religious and jihadi-style institutions, the shift from school uniforms to informal clothing, the Talibanization of educational content, and the hiring of teachers with backgrounds from religious schools will ultimately lead Afghanistan into a state of complete collapse. This will have serious security consequences for Afghanistan and other countries.

Why are the Taliban interested in religious schooling?

The leadership and decision-makers of the Taliban originate from a remote and underprivileged tribal background in Afghanistan. Consequently, they are fundamentally opposed to the development of modern education within the country.

Two important factors have contributed to the Taliban's policy of building and expanding religious schools in Afghanistan, particularly in the sphere of power and government. The first factor is the Taliban regime's policy of survival. Over their 30 years of existence, the Taliban have come to acknowledge that Afghan society, including urban people, youth, women, and intellectuals, does not accept a religious system based on tyranny. Therefore, the Taliban have focused on satisfying the war machine and the religious community that supports them to maintain their survival. This approach aims to prevent increased discontent and the joining of rival Taliban groups such as ISIS Khorasan, al-Qaeda, and others. Dissatisfaction among some Taliban fighters has arisen in the past two years due to the Taliban's failure to implement Sharia law, and they have sometimes criticized the Islamic Emirate.

The second factor is the increased legitimacy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan among different sections of Afghanistan. The Taliban know that as religious schools, textbooks, and the government promote alternative education through private schools and other mechanisms that do not meet the educational needs of children and youth in Afghanistan, the Taliban mentality among the youth and the next generation will gradually be strengthened. The Taliban ideology has gained acceptance among most Afghans, deepening the legitimacy of the emirate in Afghanistan.

The Islamic Emirate is facing a paradox. On one hand, it needs to preserve the Taliban, an extremist group that has enforced authoritarian rule over the Afghan people. On the other hand, to gain legitimacy and acceptance, the Taliban must find a way to survive without relying solely on their extremist roots. As a result, it is attempting to address this paradox by reforming the education system.

The Process of Madrasaficating of Education by the Taliban

The process of building schools, establishing jihadi schools, converting modern schools into religious schools, and changing the curriculum were policies that the Taliban put on their agenda before coming to power. The Taliban have been interested in turning modern schools into religious schools since the war against the US-led international coalition and Afghan defense forces. In 2019 and 2020, they practically encouraged schoolchildren and teachers to join religious schools in areas under their control in Parwan and Logar provinces in central Afghanistan. They also closed several schools and told students and teachers to go to religious schools and study.

Thus, efforts have been made to change the curriculum of modern schools since the past. In 2019 (I was the Afghanistan education minister at the time), the Taliban from Paktika province in southern Afghanistan sent me a message asking me to remove civics, culture, and non-Islamic content (they did not provide a specific definition) from schools and replace it with Islamic history. The request was rejected at the time. But later, after coming to power, the Taliban removed these subjects from the Afghan education system. Changing the curriculum is now a priority for the Taliban.

By taking power in 2021, the Taliban's dream of implementing the policy of increasing religious schools came true. In 2022, the Taliban announced a plan to establish a religious school in every district of Afghanistan. However, Habibullah Agha, the Taliban's acting education minister, has also announced the establishment of 10 religious schools in one district in addition to the 6000 existing religious schools.

According to objective reports from Afghanistan and statistics from the Ministry of Education, it has increased about tenfold. In addition to formal schools, dozens of women's schools have been established in every neighborhood in Afghanistan, where girls are deprived of schooling, and women learn religious sciences.

The Implication of Madrasafication of Taliban to Afghanistan & Beyond

The policy and implementation of the Taliban's religious school in Afghanistan yield three significant consequences:

- Absolute collapse of society, market, and values: Currently, about 150,000 Taliban individuals graduate from Afghan and Pakistani schools with higher grades every year. These Taliban do not have the skills and educational capabilities based on the traditional content of the curriculum. Also, after graduation, they are not able to work in the society and markets of Afghanistan or in any other country. The only job prospects for these graduates lie in the country’s 75,000 mosques, where a mullah leads for an average of 20 years. Eventually, a generation without capacity, capability, and skills will be found in Afghan society, which will lead to the absolute collapse of the social system, labor market, and values.

- Institutionalization of militant Jihadi thought in Afghanistan: Increasing Jihadi schools and Jihadi literacy and attracting youth to these schools spreads an extremist mentality and thought among youth. They will eventually become suitable soldiers for recruitment to the Taliban and other domestic and international terrorist groups. In 2001, on the eve of the fall of the Taliban and the presence of international forces in Kabul, neighborhood residents in southeastern Kabul tied and whipped a young man for shaving his beard (in the emirate, beards are a Shari'a matter). The Taliban were gone, but Taliban thought in Kabul was being gradually institutionalized.

- Increasing migration from Afghanistan to the world: The Taliban's closure of girls' schools and schooling of boys' education has raised widespread concern among families. The interest in and understanding of the importance of education for children by families in Afghanistan has led to thousands of families migrating from Afghanistan to neighboring countries in the region every month. Eventually, the figure will reach millions.

Policy Recommendations

• The world should abandon the policy of ignoring the Taliban: Unfortunately, countries do not have a common language on the issue of education toward the Taliban. Each country talks about education individually, based on its interaction with the Taliban. As a result, international organizations such as UNICEF and others have been under pressure over time to close educational services and facilities, or hand them over to the Taliban.
• Establishment of an International Education Consortium for Afghanistan: There are dozens of educational institutions and platforms that provide alternative education to girls through online learning, distance learning, and many other methods, however, the credentials, policies, and competencies of these platforms need to be aligned on the basis of the circumstances and also need to be further evaluated. An international consortium for education in Afghanistan would define regional and international education institutions, especially those involved in providing education services. 
• Supporting autonomous schools in Afghanistan's neighboring countries: About several million Afghans have migrated to Pakistan and Iran after the Taliban came to power. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of families have migrated to continue their education. However, anti-immigration policies and a lack of facilities in neighboring countries have made it difficult for them to enroll their children in schools. In countries like Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Iran, there are private schools run by the emigrants. They are autonomous as they teach national education curricula from the Republic of Afghanistan. Supporting these autonomous schools can provide their students with education.