Is Waterboarding Giving Way To U.S. Military Madrassas Building In Afghanistan And Iraq? (What Did You Learn, And When Did You Learn It?)

"The US military is funding the construction of Islamic schools, or madrassas, in the east of Afghanistan in an attempt to stem the tide of young people going to radical religious schools in Pakistan.

Such schools spawned the Taliban movement, which harboured Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader behind the September 11 terror attacks on the US, before it was swept from power in 2001.

Commander David Adams, head of the US provincial reconstruction team in Khost, the province on the border with Pakistan, said more were planned.

“We would like to see small religious schools in every district so that parents don’t have to send their children over the border [to Pakistan],” he told the Financial Times.

The initiative shows how much leeway US commanders have been given to implement counter-insurgency strategies that focus on development and education." ...

Jon Boone "US funds madrassas in Afghanistan" Financial Times January 29, 2008

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Khost University, Afghanistan













Madrassa in Khasavyurt, Republic of Daghestan, Russian Federation.

Derbent, Republic of Daghestan, being in practice a huge museum and with magnificent mountains and shore nearby, a great potential for development of the tourism industry exists, further increased by UNESCO's classification of the Citadel, Ancient City and Fortress as a World Heritage Site in 2003; however, instability in the region has not allowed further development. [Update to late 2007/2008]

Photo credit: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2007 RFE/RL, Inc. All Rights Reserved. With thanks.