Stop extremism. Teach Afghan kids to embrace peace

Everyone told us it couldn't be done.  They told us it was too risky.  Go to Kandahar, Afghanistan, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban, and try to educate thousands of vulnerable Afghan kids about peace.

But that's exactly what we did. After months of painstaking negotiatiion with provincial and local officials in the very conservative region of Kandahar, HTAC implemented a bold, audacious project.  We trained over 1,100 teachers and brought our peace education program into 22 Kandahar City schools, enrolling over 36,000 students.

Many of these students came from families that had been sympathetic to the Taliban's rigid ideology and it was not that long ago when many of the same teachers would regularly beat and threaten their students as a way to discipline them; where the concepts of toleration, and respect for other viewpoints were non-existent.

After fourteen months the results were in. 84% of all teachers had abandoned corporal punishment practices and were role modeling positive behaviiors in the classroom, creating a safe, nurturing learning environment that allowed students to ask questions and offer opinions without the fear of being beaten.  Fighting, bullying and harrasment among students plummeted from an average of 880 per month to onbly 285 at all school sites, and 91% of enrolled students were demonstrating three or more of HTAC's critical peace action behavirors, including the use of non-violent conflict resolution to prevent or break-up potential fights.

Perhaps more impressively, was the impact of this program in the homes of these students.  HTAC received over 700 unsolicited letters from parents and local community leaders telling us about the dramatic (positive) changes in the behaviors of their sons and daughters and that local councils were now beginning to incorporate the lessons of peace, respect and cooperation into their discussions and practices.

The lure of extremism continues to be a major threat to the stabilization of Afghanistan, but we are confident that the overwhelming majority of these youth have and will continue to reject extremist ideology and the violence it breeds and instead embrace the basic principles of peaceful everyday living.

Help HTAC spread peace education to other regions of Afghanistan.  

The world was recently shocked and horrified over a video showing a mob of angry Afghan men beating to death and burning a 27 year old Afghan woman named Farkhunda who was accused of allegedly burning a Q'uran; a claim that was later proven false.  Sadly, in death, Farkhunda earned her 15 minutes of fame as the media, world leaders and others condemmed her brutal killing and for a brief moment, the plight of Afghan women became a news item.

Then, just as predictably, the media and the world moved on to the next big story and Farkhunda's death became an after-thought.  But the real tragedy is, thousands of Afghan women and girls are beaten, abused, raped and killed every year and no one knows their names. 

Despite constitutional laws designed to protect women and girls, beatings, abuses, harassments and deaths are commonplace throughout Afghanistan, from small remote villages to large urgan cities like Kabul.  As a male dominated society, most Afghan women are treated as commodities and second class citizens.  In many homes women are beaten (not just by their husbands), but by other female family members.  Boys quickly learn that they are favored over their sisters.  This significantly impacts their attitudes about girls and women as they grow older.  Many girls who reach puberty are pulled from school and forced into early marriages with men who often abuse them and prevent them from working, voting and participating in local civic affairs, even though Afghanistan's Constitution gives women these rights.

HTAC's project of preventing violence against women and girls is changing attitudes and behaviors of men and communities in targeted regions of the country where we work.  Our project has four objectives:  1) teach and motivate male leaders to respect and value women as community partners by including and involving them in local councils; 2) educate and train parents and other adults on the use of non-violent conflict resolution methods in homes, thereby reducing abuse and threatening behavior toward women and girls; 3) educate Afghan boys in schools to reject violence and adopt the principles of peaceful, everyday living, which has historically reduced fighting and aggressive behaviors; and 4) educate women and girls about their constitutional rights and protections and empower them to take more active roles in local community affairs.

Our task will not be easy and we face enormous challenges, but through education and your help, we can begin to transform a culture that moves from violence to one of peace and cooperation.  If we want to honor women like Farkhunda and thousands like her who have died violent deaths, this is a good way.  Lets make sure that girls (like 7th grader Atifa shown here), will grow up in a safe environment so they can lead productive, fulfilled lives,.