RASC News Agency: Continuing their pronounced focus on religious school construction, the Taliban recently laid the foundation stone for a religious school in Uruzgan province. As reported by the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency on Monday, January 22, the school is slated to be erected in the Chora district of the province, with an estimated cost of nearly one million Kabuli rupees, the local currency. According to the report, the school aims to provide educational opportunities for 200 individuals. Taliban officials assert that, following the directive of Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the group’s leader, three to ten religious schools are planned for construction in each district of Afghanistan.
This development occurs as the Taliban, following their assumption of control, embark on the establishment of mosques and religious schools across various provinces. The group has already erected numerous mosques and schools, involving multimillion-dollar investments, with this process ongoing. According to sources, there is a prevailing belief that the Taliban seeks to propagate its extremist ideology by investing in mosques and religious schools, potentially influencing Afghanistani citizens.
Historically, mosques and religious schools have served as pivotal sources of power for the Taliban, supplying a recruitment pool during the two-decade war with the Afghanistan government and its Western allies. Reports suggest that the Taliban’s suicide bombers, referred to as “shahids,” undergo training in these mosques and schools, being subjected to indoctrination to the extent that they exhibit no fear of death.
