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This is a report of the RWI Afghanistan Programme, written by Haroun Rahimi & Andrew Watkins.
License: RWI report
Since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover of Afghanistan, its approach towards education has drawn global and local condemnation, mostly for restrictions on girls’ schooling, along with widespread concern about the administration’s relationship with madrasas. But limits on both international and local media coverage and policy research, along with the sharp politicisation of discourse on education under the Taliban, have led to conspiratorial rumours and some mischaracterisations. This report draws on limited primary data to explore the Taliban’s efforts to integrate and regulate religious education institutions, or madrasas, as part of its broader “State-building” and social-engineering endeavours in Afghanistan. The available data suggests that the Taliban is pursuing an ambitious re-imagining of the role of madrasas in the country. However, the extent to which it can successfully implement this vision – and the potential intended and unintended consequences for its State-building efforts and the Afghan people – remains uncertain. Here, we offer preliminary reflections on the Taliban’s actions and motivations, as well as insights into how madrasa insiders perceive these efforts. Different data sources were used for this research. The existing academic, media and other sources of literature on madrasas in Afghanistan and Pakistan were surveyed. To collect primary data, the policies, rules, curriculums and statements of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) ministries of Education, Higher Education, and Guidance, Hajj and Endowments were closely studied.
Keywords: Taliban State-building, Madrasa Reform, Religious Education Policy, Girls’ Education Restrictions, Social Engineering, Educational Governance