Taliban attitudes and policies towards education

RESEARCH PAPER

Rahmatullah Amiri, Ashley Jackson

There are significant debates and differences of opinion within the Taliban on education. There is a tension between the preferences of the Taliban’s traditionalists and hardliners, and those who recognise that Afghanistan needs more diverse and more modern ideas and approaches within its education system. Even so, there is still a far stronger emphasis on, and preference for, Islamic education.

Many of the most contentious aspects of Taliban policy, such as female education, are barely addressed within the official ‘rules’. This ambiguity allows the Taliban to accommodate various opinions within the movement and adopt a wide range of practices on the ground. It has also enabled the Taliban to sidestep pressures from the international community, which would like to see a more progressive stance, and potential resistance from more conservative elements, who would object to any such shift.

Education in Afghanistan is heavily reliant on international aid – a fact which the Taliban does not readily acknowledge. This raises questions about whether the Taliban adequately understands how essential international support is to maintaining access to education, and how the Taliban would react to donor conditions on aid in the future