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Taliban won’t last long like last time, resistance on the rise, says Afghan ex-minister Balkhi

Mirwais Balkhi, former education minister & diplomat, says Taliban 'gradually ruining country’s education ecosystem', is facing resistance from women and ethnic, religious groups.

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New Delhi: The Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which completed one year last month, will be short-lived compared to the last time they were in power (1996-2001), says former Afghan minister and diplomat Mirwais Balkhi.

Balkhi, who was education Minister of the erstwhile Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from 2018 to 2020, also said the Taliban are not just shutting down girls’ schools but gradually ruining the country’s education ecosystem by converting general schools into madrasas (Islamic religious schools).

“The past year under the Taliban has been a total catastrophe. Not only has there been a gradual collapse of the achievements of the past 20 years, but also a complete collapse of the governance system,” Balkhi told ThePrint in an interview.

According to Balkhi, who no longer lives in Afghanistan, the Taliban — after having seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 — are running the country with “nationalism, radicalisation and tribalism” as the pillars of their governance model.

The Taliban first came to power in Afghanistan in 1996 but were eventually ousted by a US-led military coalition in 2001.

“I do not think any country will now recognise the Taliban at all, including those which are engaging with them,” said Balkhi, adding that unlike the last time they were in power, this Taliban regime will not even last a full five years.

Building on his argument, Balkhi said the Taliban regime currently is facing “enormous resistance”, not just from former vice-president Amrullah Saleh and the National Resistance Front (NRF), led by Ahmad Massoud, son of ‘Lion of Panjshir’ Ahmad Shah Massoud. Resistance against the Taliban is gradually rising in the provinces of Baghlan, Badakhshan, Takhar, Balkh and Faryab, he claimed.


“On one side, of course, it is the NRF which is fighting the Taliban militarily, but there is otherwise also enormous resistance against the Taliban across the country. There is resistance from women, there is resistance from intellectuals, there is resistance from ethnic and religious groups, they are all resisting against the Taliban,” he said.

The NRF, he added, will gain more strength and legitimacy among the people going forward.

“There will be more and more recruitment from the NRF and they have that passion and they are fighting. They will be able to suppress and convince the Taliban that they cannot rule Afghanistan with such a radicalised ideology,” he told ThePrint.

“The Taliban is afraid of the NRF and other resistance groups. They know these people are potential threats to their existence,” he added.


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‘Taliban converting schools into madrasas

On 23 March, less than a year since they overran Kabul, the interim Taliban government decided to shut down girls’ secondary schools across Afghanistan. But according to Balkhi — who has also worked as a lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan — both young boys and girls are being denied proper education under the new regime.

“The education system is in a state of collapse. Even general schools are being converted into madrasas. And not just girls, they are not even allowing boys to study properly,” he said, adding that Taliban are neither in favour of distance learning, nor free education for poor children or teaching of certain skill sets in schools.

Expressing concern about the quality of education in Afghanistan, Balkhi said that expanding the influence of madrasas will “pave the way for more recruitment of the young generation by terrorist networks”. 

“That is why they are destroying the educational infrastructure of Afghanistan,” he said. 

The Taliban, Balkhi said, have long-term plans to change school curriculum and make it “anti-secular, anti-democratic and anti-West”.

“The current curriculum is being written by the ulemas, the religious scholars…. They are bringing a new curriculum that talks about more radicalisation.”

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)


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