The Growing Taliban Madrassa System: An Ideological Weapon Threatening Regional Stability

A recent analysis by the American publication The National Interest has highlighted the Taliban regime’s systematic transformation of Afghanistan’s education landscape, revealing a strategy that uses madrassas as ideological instruments to cultivate a generation loyal to global jihadist objectives. This evolution in educational policy is not simply a cultural or religious reform; it constitutes a significant security challenge with regional and international ramifications.

Since assuming power in 2021, the Taliban have pursued a radical overhaul of Afghanistan’s education system, prioritizing religious instruction and obedience over all other forms of learning. As The National Interest notes, the regime has utilized madrassas not merely as educational institutions but as ideological platforms designed to inculcate submission and extremist values. The Taliban’s interpretation of Islam is imported and authoritarian, diverging sharply from Afghanistan’s historical religious and cultural traditions. It emphasizes conformity, loyalty to the leadership, and preparation for participation in global jihadist movements.

The expansion of madrassas under Taliban rule has been both rapid and unprecedented. By September 2025, the Taliban Ministry of Education reported the establishment of approximately 269 schools and more than 23,000 Islamic training centers across the country. These institutions collectively enrolled over 300,000 students, underscoring the scale and speed of the regime’s educational transformation. The Taliban leadership, led by Supreme Leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, has issued special decrees providing extraordinary facilities and resources to religious and jihadist madrassas. According to these directives, each madrassa must have dormitory capacity for 500 to 1,000 students and provide a daily stipend of 150 Afghanis per student. This level of institutional support not only enhances the appeal of madrassas but also secures a pipeline of loyal recruits for ideological and potentially militant purposes.

The Taliban’s staffing policies for madrassas further reveal the regime’s intent to establish a disciplined and ideologically cohesive educational framework. Each madrassa is required to employ at least ten instructors, including three “Sheikh-ul-Hadith” receiving monthly salaries of 25,000 Afghanis, three “Sheikh-Moqoof Alayh” at 20,000 Afghanis, three religious technical instructors at 15,000 Afghanis, and one Quran memorization instructor at 20,000 Afghanis. This structured hierarchy ensures that students are exposed to a consistent ideological curriculum, while reinforcing the authority of religious figures loyal to the regime’s vision.

Beyond expansion, the Taliban have enacted a strategic simplification and narrowing of curricula. Reports indicate that 51 subjects have been removed from Dari, Pashto, and social studies textbooks, including lessons on human rights, women’s rights, patriotism, and national unity. These deletions eliminate critical knowledge and signal a rejection of diversity in thought, favoring a strictly religious, doctrinaire approach. Such policies directly contribute to the formation of a generation predisposed to authoritarian obedience and militant ideology.

The human and social costs of these reforms are significant. The Taliban have systematically reduced educational employment, eliminating thousands of teaching and administrative positions across multiple provinces. For instance, Samangan province alone lost 197 positions, Sar-e Pol lost 47, and Bamyan lost 111. Nationwide, sources within the Ministry of Education confirm that around 90,000 positions have been removed, often without prior notification, signaling a deliberate effort to suppress dissent and consolidate control. These employment cuts further exacerbate the socio-economic marginalization of communities and deepen dependency on the regime’s ideological institutions.

The implications of the Taliban madrassa system extend well beyond Afghanistan’s borders. By prioritizing sectarian and jihadist instruction while eliminating alternative narratives, the Taliban are cultivating a cohort that perceives global jihad as a religious obligation. Leaked documents suggest that Akhundzada envisions a long-term strategy aimed at global jihad, aligning Afghanistan’s educational apparatus with broader transnational militant networks. The UN reports that the Taliban maintain links with over 20 regional and international terrorist organizations, with the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a Haqqani network safehouse revealing deep operational alliances. These affiliations highlight that the Taliban’s educational reforms are not merely domestic policies but integral components of a transnational militant strategy.

Girls’ education under the Taliban remains largely symbolic. In reality, it is confined to a narrow set of religious subjects, while secondary schools for girls remain closed. Opportunities to study science, mathematics, medicine, or other professional disciplines are virtually nonexistent. Only a limited number of Taliban-approved madrassas admit female students, often without age restrictions and lacking any meaningful academic structure.

From a regional security perspective, the ideological monopolization of education in Afghanistan poses significant threats to South and Central Asia. These madrassas serve as recruitment grounds for militant organizations, and the Taliban’s expansion of these institutions amplifies this risk. The restriction of diverse subjects, including civic and social knowledge, reinforces a narrative of radicalization that can spill across porous borders. Neighboring countries may face increased insurgent activity, recruitment networks, and the proliferation of extremist ideologies.

Historically, madrassas have stood as pinnacles of Islamic intellectual tradition, producing generations of scholars, jurists, scientists, philosophers, and reformers who contributed not only to Islamic civilization but to global knowledge. The Taliban’s current model represents a stark departure from this legacy. Their sectarian, authoritarian, and militarized version of madrassa education is neither rooted in Islam’s rich scholarly tradition nor compatible with modern educational standards. Instead of nurturing intellectual depth and moral reasoning, it reduces learning to ideological conformity and obedience, weaponizing religion for political control and militancy. By hollowing out both authentic Islamic scholarship and modern education, the Taliban are not reviving tradition but distorting it, transforming institutions of learning into instruments of radicalization. This deviation poses not only a threat to Afghanistan’s future but to regional stability, underscoring the urgent need to distinguish between genuine Islamic education and the Taliban’s coercive, extremist reinterpretation of it.