Taliban attacks ‘intensify’ amid holidays in Pakistani Madrassas

KABUL (TOLO News): The police chief of Kandahar, Gen. Tadeen Khan, says that the Taliban attacks on security forces in the south of Afghanistan have increased amid the start of summer holidays in Pakistani madrassas which according to him is training “extremism and terrorism” to its students.

Khan said that lack of religious schools in the country is questioning and it pushes the Afghan youth to go to Pakistan and there, they get “training on terrorism and extremism”.

“It is the summer and it is a war season because madrassas in Pakistan are off and they [the students of the madrassas] are sent to Afghanistan in the name of Jihad,” the police chief said.

Khan said that while peace efforts are underway, the Taliban are intensifying the war in the south so they can “get privileges” during the talks.

“We are prepared and we will respond to every attack by the Taliban,” Khan said.

A study by Afghanistan Institute of Strategic Studies in 2017 found that the number of unregistered madrassas in Afghanistan has dramatically increased.

Almost 300 people were interviewed at 50 unregistered madrassas in ten provinces of Afghanistan with the main focus on suicide attacks, the study shows.

“Afghan students should be trained inside the country in order to prepare their mindset in favor of their country, but when they receive training on use of weapons and extremism in other countries,” said Fida Mohammad, member of Kandahar Provincial Council.

“We have Islamic education sections within the education directorate but it is marred by corruption. We will be able to prevent the seasonal conflicts if we send a limited number of students to proper Islamic studies centers outside the country,” said Hekmatullah, a civil society activist in Kandahar.

Ghorak, Shorabak, Shah Wali Kot and Maiwand districts in Kandahar province recently witnessed a rise in Taliban attacks, targeting government forces.

Khan said that most of the attacks have been push back by the security forces.