Reports of young suicide bombers prompt parents to rethink wisdom of sending children to study at Islamic schools in Pakistan
Afghan families with children studying at Islamic schools or madrassas across the border in Pakistan are starting to bring them home for fear that they will be recruited as suicide bombers.
Public awareness of the issue has grown since Afghan television stations showed children describing how their teachers in Pakistan groomed them to put on vests packed with explosives and detonate them once they approached vehicles belonging to international or Afghan troops.But their testimonies suggest they were told that they themselves would escape unharmed from such attacks.
In Kapisa province northeast of the capital Kabul, the families of 17 boys have either recalled them from Pakistani madrassas or are refusing to let them go back there.
One father described how he sent his 18-year-old son to Pakistan a year ago, but observed great changes in him when he returned for a break.
“My son is vehemently opposed to the government. He says suicide attacks are considered a superior form of martyrdom and courage in Islam, and that Muslims must wage a jihad against the Jews and their friends,” he said.
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This article originally appeared on IWPR.net produced by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.
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