exploded a Roshan [ mobile ] network antennas in the middle of Baharak city , about a mile and a half from CAI-supported Payan Shahr Girls ’ High School ,” Jaheed said .
Again , the school was not damaged , but as CAI Co-Founder Greg Mortenson said , “ It is sad that the Taliban make the children afraid to go to school and destroy innocent lives . This is an area the Taliban never controlled when they ruled the other 90 percent of Afghanistan in the 1990s . But now they offer high-paying jobs for broke locals from $ 250-500 per month , or one can farm opium to make ends meet . Even though everyone wants education , in this arena few have the luxury to pursue it .”
Janagha Jaheed , CAI manager in central Badakhshan , works in his office .
COMPLEX STATUS Afghanistan and its neighbors are at a turning point , as the United States and other countries withdraw troops from what has become America ’ s longest war . With the troops ’ departure comes great anxiety about the future , fears of civil war , failure of the notoriously corrupt central government , and economic ruin .
“ After years of Western aid spent building it , the Afghan state is suddenly at risk of collapsing just as American troops are leaving ,” New York Times reporter Carlotta Gall wrote in August .
This year , in the villages where CAI works , militants killed three people who had supported the organization ’ s work . Afghanistan ’ s overall mood has shifted from cautious optimism back to wary pessimism .
Most Afghans anticipate the fighting will only increase after international troops withdraw , said Wakil Karimi , CAI ’ s Kabul-based program manager . “ The weapons are everywhere now . People will not be safe , especially people who have business or good job . They will not be safe here .
“ The only people who suffer from this game are the Afghan people ,” he added .
And suffer they do . Afghanistan is one of the world ’ s poorest nations . Most people still live in mud-brick houses and make a meager living as subsistence farmers or herders . An estimated 70 percent of the country is illiterate . The government is plagued with corruption at all levels . Poppy growing and narco-trafficking are on the rise , despite all efforts to the contrary . The Afghan security forces are , by most measures , still insufficiently educated , trained , and funded . And the Taliban is still a very real threat in many areas in the east , west , and south of the country .
During the past 13 years , as the war raged on , “ the US alone has already spent more than $ 700 billion , enough to build every living Afghan a luxury apartment serviced by world-class health and education facilities – and to throw in a top-of-the-range Land Cruiser for each and every citizen , too ,” author and historian William Dalrymple wrote in the New Statesman in April . “ Instead , at the end of this , Afghanistan remains the poorest country in Asia , the joint most corrupt country
TALIBAN AND EDUCATION
Taliban police patrolling the streets of Herat , Afghanistan . Public domain photo . Source : Wikipedia
Nailing down precisely where the Taliban stand on girls ’ education is like shooting at a moving target . Historically , Taliban leaders have opposed it . But time and the desire to appeal to an Afghan population that has millions of children in school right now have tempered that stern command .
“ The Afghan Taliban is positioning itself as much more politically moderate and is now saying , ‘ We believe that knowledge and education is a religious obligation ,’” CAI advisor Christopher Kolenda said . “ Of course there is the issue of what the Taliban senior leadership say and what its people actually do on the ground .”
Some of the most comprehensive and insightful reporting on the Taliban and education has been done by Antonio Giustozzi and Claudio Franco of the Afghan Analysts Network .
To put the situation in context , the authors explained that since the early days of the Taliban insurgency , which started in late 2002 , “ its Pakistan-based leadership has been organizing itself in a number of commissions , committees and councils that have gradually expanded following the intensification of the Taliban ’ s effort to present themselves as the legitimate government and the counter state .”
The first Education Commission appeared in 2006 in Quetta , Pakistan ; a second in 2009 in Peshawar , Pakistan . The result is two Taliban education commissions that have mainly geographical divisions of responsibility and do not really cooperate . Furthermore , the Taliban break down into more autonomous groups and factions at the local level with “ differing attitudes toward schools ,” Giustozzi and Franco wrote .
The Peshawar Education Committee took the position that education is a right , but sub-
18 | Journey of Hope C E N T R A L A S I A I N S T I T U T E