Investigative visual evidence obtained by Afghanistan International reveals that administrators and instructors at a de facto-run religious school (madrasa) in Badakhshan province are actively involving young children in military instruction and weapon-handling exercises.
In several photos and video stills released from the facility, young boys—many well under the age of majority—are pictured holding and operating automatic assault rifles (including military-grade Kalashnikovs) alongside adult de facto personnel.
Violation of International Humanitarian Standards
Human rights advocates and legal monitors emphasize that the weaponization of educational spaces and the training of minors directly violate fundamental international human rights frameworks:
- Incontravertible Legal Prohibitions: Under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, the recruitment, weapon-handling instruction, and tactical utilization of children under 18 by state or non-state armed groups is strictly forbidden.
- Systemic Ideological Indoctrination: Rights monitors report that the de facto Ministry of Education and Ministry of Vice and Virtue have systematically expanded jihadist curricula across provincial madrasas, utilizing basic food and housing provisions to recruit vulnerable, low-income youth into armed structures.
- Weaponization of Religious Education: The conversion of general secondary schools into military-aligned religious institutes across northern provinces like Badakhshan and Takhar has raised fears that an entire generation is being systematically funneled into armed combat roles.
Persistent Failure of Regulatory Oversight
Despite repeated international calls for accountability and child protection guarantees, the de facto administration has taken no concrete steps to dismantle child recruitment networks or enforce age restrictions within religious academies.
Civil society organizations warn that without immediate international pressure and independent monitoring, the institutionalized militarization of minors inside state-sanctioned madrasas will permanently destabilize the region’s socio-political fabric.