Stop extremism. Teach Afghan kids to embrace peace

Kandahar, Afghanistan is the birthplace of the Taliban and the currrent center of intense fighting between NATO forces and insurgents.  Mandy people in the West have painted Kandahar as a harsh, brutal place with little hope for any successful resolution.

Yet,  within this bleak environment, approximately 36,500 Afghan middle school children at 22 Kandahar schools are eagerly embracing the virtues and principles of peaceful, everyday living and rejecting violence.  HTAC's peace education project, launched late last year in this city, is having a profund positive impact on children, their teachers, parents, and members of local communities.

Consider these facts.  Before the peace program began, independent (trained) observers reported an average of 880 incidents of fighting and other aggressive behavior per month among students at these schools.  Six months later, the number fell to 285, a 67% decrease.  Conversely, the average number of potential aggressive conflicts resolved through non-conflict resolution (among students), rose from 0 to over 700 per month.  Among the 1,129 teachers at these schools, the independent group reported that 950 (or 84%) had abandoned previously unhealthy corporal punishment practices and are now consistently using positive, nurturing motivational methods to help their students learn and gain confidence.

The program is also having a huge impact in the home.  Children are sharing the lessons of peace, learned in the classroom, with their parents who become more sensitive to how they listen and communicate with their sons and daughters and as a result, learn how to become better parents and positive adult role models.

A number of communities within Kandahar, initially suspicious of 'another Western program', are now embracing peace education.  As of this report, HTAC has received over 700 individual letters from Kandahar parents and community leader, expressing their strong support for the program to continue.