Pakistan: The Taliban’s School

In Pakistan, a state-funded school trains Islamist extremists from neighboring Afghanistan. The most important goal: to transform Afghanistan back into a fundamentalist state of God.

When Maulana Yousaf Shah is asked about the importance of his university, he goes into raptures: “Our graduates have already smashed Russia to pieces, and now we have managed to get the USA to pack their bags too.” He is one of the most influential teachers at the Haqqania Seminary, a religious university that is proudly known as the “jihadist school”. Almost all leaders of the Afghan Taliban have at some point pressed the school desks here. In Akora Khattak, a small town in northwest Pakistan, around 100 kilometers from the Afghan border.

Officially, the 6,000 students are also taught economics or politics, but the focus is on the extremely strict interpretation of Islam. This includes: Only boys and men study here. “We are excellent at anything related to jihad,” says Shah.

“Father of the Taliban” founded the school

Because of such martial words, the Haqqania seminar is considered a hotbed of Islamist terror. This is where the Taliban got their intellectual armor when they subjugated Afghanistan in the 1990s. Here they can still find a retreat and training space for their struggle to recapture the country. The clergyman Maulana Abdul Haq, who founded the school in 1947, is revered as the “father of the Taliban” to this day.

Abdul Malik has been studying for a year. Like most of his fellow students, he comes from Afghanistan. There the 25-year-old never experienced anything other than war. “When I return, I too will go to holy war,” he says proudly. “The fight against the enemies of Islam – the fight for our upbringing and our way of life.”

This way of life is strictly governed by Islamic law, the Sharia. Everyone here is convinced of the superiority of Islam. “I believe that, compared to other religions, Islam gives people better and more precise guidance,” says Nabeel Karki, a fellow student of Abdul’s. The daily routine in the seminar is accordingly strictly regulated. From getting up to sunset: the focus is on discipline.

Reports of graduates in combat

However, there is no training on the weapon, it is officially insured. But Malik says: “When the Americans attacked Afghanistan, our religious leaders announced a fatwa. This means that every child, every man, every woman, young and old, is called to go to holy war. And also Muslim foreigners are invited to come to Afghanistan to fight the unbelieving occupiers. ”

There are reports on the Internet from alleged graduates of the seminar who say that they crossed the border to join Taliban combat groups during the semester break. Internship in the war trade. Such reports cannot be verified.

Against Afghanistan’s “Westernization”

What is certain, however, is who finances the jihadist academy: the Pakistani government. She makes no secret of it either. “The money we give them has to be used for infrastructure,” said Shauqat Ali Yousafzai, spokesman for the provincial government and party friend of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan. He rejects the charge of terrorist financing: “We used it to renovate houses, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens. What is wrong with that?”

With the support of the Taliban University, the Pakistani government hopes to buy influence. She wants to get involved in the reorganization of the neighboring country Afghanistan. Especially now that NATO is leaving there. Nobody in the region believes that the Afghan government and its army can withstand the military pressure of the Taliban without Western support.

The hour of the Taliban will come. Student Malik is also convinced of this. “The Afghan government should unite with the fighters for God under Islam. Instead, it listens to the Americans and takes their money.” The westernization of Afghan society must be pushed back again.

“Westernization” for the Taliban stands for democracy, freedom of expression and equal rights for women. Malik will go back to Afghanistan after his training. Perhaps by then a post is already waiting for him in a Taliban government. Yet it is not so far. But one is prepared in the Haqqania seminar.

You can see this report on tagesschau24. You will see the next “Weltspiegel” broadcast on Sunday, July 4th, 2021 at 7:20 pm on Das Erste.