One of the Taliban’s important, dangerous, and long-term programs is the establishment and expansion of religious schools across all regions of Afghanistan.
The Taliban’s religious schools are, in fact, jihadi schools. It is better to call them “Talib-maker factories.” Accordingly, first- and second-generation Taliban are now seeking to reproduce themselves widely and nationwide into a third generation. The third generation of Taliban, in addition to being taught distorted and incomplete religious lessons, are deliberately steered toward jihadi thinking and takfir (declaring others apostates).
 
The curricula in Taliban schools are accompanied by incitement to a warrior spirit, jihad, and protection of the Islamic Emirate of the Taliban. These schools have the following characteristics:
 
Characteristics of Taliban religious schools:
 
1. Salafism and the promotion of rigid, dogmatic Taliban thinking that is inflexible and beyond criticism are core principles of these schools.
2. These schools sow doubt about the legitimacy of other Islamic sects and the correctness of other interpretations.
3. Reliance on fabricated hadiths and weak narrative texts, together with the lecturers’ monologues, is widespread in such schools.
4. Fostering a militant and combative mentality in service of Taliban politics and desires is an important hallmark of these schools.
5. Sexually charged incitement of youth — by emphasizing heavenly houris and youthful slaves and by continual sexually tinted descriptions of houris and beautiful women in paradise — is a method the Taliban use to infiltrate and dominate “Talib-children.”
6. Creating a mentality of suicide and martyrdom as a path to perfection and reward — by stimulating carnal desires and promising pleasurable afterlife rewards — is a technique to soften adolescents and incite youths.
7. The Deobandi reading and the wishes of the Haqqani school are taught in these schools. This outlook opposes the moderate Hanafi readings and its foundation is a sectarian, Pakistani reading of religion.
8. The dominance of juristic thought from figures like Abul A'la Maududi and Shah Waliullah Dehlawi over the progressive religious readings of the major Islamic jurists is evident.
9. In these schools Taliban political goals are mixed with religious and doctrinal foundations, and they send forth a dangerous, warlike group into society.
 
What are the outputs of the Taliban religious schools?
 
1. Dangerous doctrinal soldiers who cannot engage in debate or tolerate opponents.
2. Depressed youths and confused, Salafi-minded mullahs.
3. Suicide-seeking militants who serve the Taliban project.
4. (second “3” in original) An army of enforcers of the Taliban’s version of “commanding the good,” who propagate Taliban wishes in society.
5. Promotion of Taliban jurisprudence, politics, and sectarian interests at the grassroots level in service of Taliban political aims.
6. Creation of thousands of ideological suppression forces to eliminate the masses, especially the Taliban’s ideological opponents.
   ...
 
Dangers of Taliban religious schools to religion and religious people
The Taliban have portrayed religion as very bad, violent, monopolistic, ugly, and dry. This will result in a flight from religion, and we are already witnessing the beginning of this religious alienation. Afghanistan’s religious community will be driven into isolation; this danger is perfectly understandable. No danger harms religion more than ignorant believers. No external factor damages religion like an incomplete and contaminated understanding of it. No factor — such as the mixing of violence, murder, takfir, exclusivism, and suicide with religion — damages religion as much as this does.
 
The Taliban are known in the world as “representatives of political Islam.” Just as groups like ISIS and Boko Haram donned the cloak of Islam and defamed Islam worldwide, Taliban political Islam has brought about a great disgrace. ISIS was a project to discredit Islam and religion; the Taliban now go beyond ISIS by imposing their sick mindset in the name of religion and through widescale restrictions and violations of citizens’ human rights, presenting a negative image of religion — and the Taliban schools extend this harm.
 
Dangers of Taliban religious schools for the Hanafi Sunni community
The Hanafi school is a school of interaction, tolerance, and moderation. Hanafis do not easily declare others apostates. They do not easily ostracize people. They accept and listen to interpretations of religion and texts. They have great scholars. The Hanafis have many progressive thinkers and welcome religious reformers. In politics they are broadminded. They have political rationality. They are interactive and possess a wide political worldview.
 
When the Taliban entered Afghanistan they presented themselves as representatives of the Hanafi school and constantly spoke of Hanafism. They named the city of Charikar “Abu Hanifah,” honored Hanafis, loudly proclaimed Hanafism and the great imam, and by this means in a country with a Hanafi majority they imposed themselves as the custodians of the Hanafi school. With this tactic they also pushed Shi‘a away from the Sunni community of Afghanistan, and no one protested!
 
However, Taliban religious schools, with the characteristics we have described, are a danger to followers of the Hanafi school. They impose religious harshness, isolate and remove free-thinking Hanafi scholars. With their limited comprehension of religion and incomplete understanding of nass (scriptural texts) and hadith, their narrow readings of verses and reports and their poor knowledge of the Companions and the righteous predecessors — their shears are sharp and their sword is keen. Their tendency is toward Salafism and they are prone to acceptance of Wahhabism. The Deobandi commonalities with the takfiri Wahhabi current are undeniable.
 
The sharp weapon of takfir in the hands of the Taliban’s half-baked mullahs is a danger for Afghanistan’s Hanafi community and will show itself in the future. Afghanistan’s Sunni Hanafis — especially educated and intellectual Hanafis — will certainly be exposed to the blade of the Taliban training centers’ threats. The Taliban take advantage of the extreme poverty that now and in the future will plague Afghanistan and will recruit “Talib-children” from among Hanafi families. Just as General Zia ul-Haq in Pakistan exploited the poverty of traditional families — paid the Talib children and boosted jihadi religious schools — Afghan Talib-children will one day become a scourge to their own people, and it will not be long before we witness even intra-family conflict!
 
Dangers of Taliban religious schools for culture
The Taliban have shown that they have no affinity with civilization and culture. From their perspective, cultural symbols are sometimes considered symbols of shirk and kufr; the destruction of the giant Buddha statues is an example of this thinking. From their view, historical glories in mysticism, science, and literature are not acceptable or respectable; the collection (and removal) of images of these great figures like Mawlana, Ferdowsi, Abu Rayhan, Ibn Sina, etc., from halls and cultural centers and sometimes the renaming of historical places are of the same spirit.
 
The Taliban removed the permission to celebrate Nowruz and declared celebrating Nowruz forbidden. They consider participating in ancient festivals forbidden. They are alien to poetry and literature and attach no importance to art. They speak ill of the Persian language and openly express their hatred of it. As Mullah Fazl Mazloom bluntly says “I hate the Persian language,” such thinking is widespread among the Taliban. Persian has no buyer and is not understood in the administrations under Taliban rule, whereas most of our sources, glories, heritage, and texts of history, culture, and civilization are in Persian.
 
From the Taliban’s perspective art has no value, music is absolutely forbidden, cinema is a kafir phenomenon, and the media are tools of foreigners. Book writing has dropped to near zero and many bookshops have closed. Libraries are also closed and inactive.
 
The Taliban do not recognize traditional festivals and ancient ceremonies. Poets, literati, scholars, artists, and filmmakers are among the most isolated and least valued social groups under the Taliban. It is thought that the majority of such figures have left Afghanistan.
 
It is likely that with the expansion of religious schools, science, art, culture, civilization, and literature will suffer even greater pressure and isolation. The Taliban neither have urban creativity and civility themselves nor, like the Mongols who came and burned and looted, do they have the capacity to absorb culture and be tamed by it.
 
Dangers of Taliban religious schools for the Shi‘a community
In the twenty years of rule without the Taliban, Shi‘a and Sunni were like the two wings of one bird. They rejoiced together in happiness and burned together in sorrow. When the Taliban carried out suicide attacks among Shi‘a, thousands of Sunnis would go to the cities and wait to donate blood to the Shi‘a. If the Taliban detonated inside a Sunni gathering and mosque, Shi‘a would show their brotherhood; but now it is as if a layer of dead soil has been sprinkled over the cities.
 
Shi‘a are now excluded from politics, government, and power. They have endured the most exclusion and deprivation. The Taliban control Shi‘a cultural and religious centers and do not permit Shi‘a political centers to breathe. Shi‘a are easily labeled apostates and are readily eliminated. The Shi‘a faith has lost recognition; Ja‘fari jurisprudence has been removed from curricula; Shi‘a figures have become displaced persons. Shi‘a professors and elites have left the country, Shi‘a universities have lost vibrancy, and Shi‘a media are struggling under severe pressures.
 
Ashura has been removed from official public celebration; Muharram mourning ceremonies are held in fear and dread, and in some provinces the holding of Ashura ceremonies and mourning has been banned.
 
Shi‘a politicians are not allowed to operate and Shi‘a scholars are sometimes forced to pledge allegiance to the Taliban’s Amir al-Mu’minin or have become subjects under the banner of the Islamic Emirate. There is not even one minister from a Shi‘a constituency in the Taliban cabinet, and even the three deputy ministers (if they exist) are not representing Shi‘a but represent ISI and foreign intelligence agendas.
 
In Shi‘a-populated regions there is the most surveillance, the greatest pressure, and the harshest reprisals; homes are controlled and streets are patrolled. They live in the depths of poverty. They have neither leaders nor patrons. They have neither heroes nor supporters. Their demands have been reduced from sharing power and politics to surviving and not being killed. Their politicians have fled and their clerics have taken up an undignified posture. Shi‘a once had great supports that are now gone, and in private they pray for the appearance of the Mahdi.
 
With the expansion of Taliban religious schools and the multiplication of the Taliban population and the rise of a new generation of Salafi Taliban, Shi‘a face a far more frightening future. In such a situation, unity between Shi‘a and Sunni and their joint struggle is both desirable and necessary.
 
Dangers of Taliban religious schools for Iran and neighboring countries
Among all the countries of the region, the Taliban consider Iran a country suitable and ripe for jihad. Given the ideological, educational, and doctrinal indoctrination the Taliban have received, some Taliban fighters dream of war with Iran. The author has repeatedly heard this wish directly from both lower- and higher-ranking Taliban. Over the past two years there have been numerous border clashes with Iranian border guards; thousands of the group’s suicide forces long for war. The Taliban intelligence apparatus closely monitors personalities and centers they suspect of having relations with Iran.
 
The Taliban have not left other neighbors untouched: border clashes with Pakistan and Tajikistan and rocket attacks on Uzbekistan are examples. The Taliban’s pride and warlike disposition are a threat to all neighbors. The training of a new generation of Taliban with jihadi ideology, a martial spirit, and a desire for martyrdom poses a threat anytime and anywhere. Tajikistan has sensed the danger, Pakistan is upset, and China is effectively paying tribute.
 
The spread and multiplication of Taliban religious schools provides them with tens of thousands of free ideological fighters.
 
Final note
The Taliban reproduce and multiply themselves. They give birth to and nurture a new generation with their ideology. The West tried something similar over the past twenty years but failed because it was mired in tribalism and moral and administrative corruption. The employment conditions in previous administrations were based on Western criteria, but the Taliban will fill their future government and institutions with Talib-children.
 
If the Taliban’s rule continues, in a decade they will have built a new generation of themselves. This new generation of Taliban, through their proliferation and dispersion, will go among the masses, start with families, and control families as well. One of the most important conditions for the Taliban’s survival and the perpetuation of Taliban thought is the expansion of Taliban schools; the Taliban understand this and state it proudly.
 
The sleeping must wake up.
 
Hossaini Madany — Jomhor News Agency