AISS released the second of a series of papers dedicated to examining the trends in radicalization across the various sectors throughout Afghanistan. This paper is a comprehensive examination of the trends in radicalization across unregistered madrassas in Afghanistan.
The paper concludes three primary findings relating to religious tolerance and interpretation, as well as external linkages between transnational sources and madrassas.
First, weak and uncompetitive advanced education programs in Afghanistan incentivize madrassa students to seek degrees outside of Afghanistan. Second, relevant bodies within the Government of Afghanistan (GoA), especially Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs (MoHRA), remain detached from a substantive and funding perspective, allowing alternate transnational financial inputs. Finally, it was observed that aggregate responses from teachers and students regarding the tolerance of integrating non-Islamic followers in Afghan society were positive. More generally, the results demonstrated that individual respondents, regardless of geographic area, were tolerant of other Islamic and non-Islamic denominations, thereby suggesting that policies directed at reducing radicalization may be met with support within the Afghan madrassa context.