Beyond Borders: Diversity and Transnational Links in Afghan Religious Education

The report analyzes the Afghan madrasa sector, highlighting its diversity and the complex transnational links between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It examines the role of these schools in radicalization and militancy, while assessing the Afghan government's efforts to reform religious education to curb extremism and enhance state control.

• The Afghan madrasa sector is highly diverse, consisting of a mix of official government schools and a larger number of private, often unregistered, institutions that vary significantly in size, funding, and ideology.
• Religious education in Afghanistan is deeply valued as a socio-cultural institution; families choose madrasas not only due to poverty or lack of alternatives, but because they value the Islamic worldview and the prestige associated with religious scholarship.
• Most Afghan Sunni madrasas follow the South Asian dars-e nizami curriculum and are linked to the Deobandi school of thought, though this association does not automatically imply radicalism or political affiliation.
• Transnational links between Afghan and Pakistani madrasas are primarily informal and personal, based on student-teacher relationships rather than formal institutional agreements, with a predominantly unidirectional flow of students from Afghanistan to Pakistan.
• While most madrasas are apolitical, certain Pakistani and border-area madrasas have served as recruitment grounds, organizational bases, and transit points for militant groups, including the Taliban and the Haqqani network.
• The Afghan government's reform strategy focuses on increasing state capacity, introducing non-religious subjects to improve employability, and registering all schools to reduce reliance on Pakistani institutions and curb radicalization.
• Government reform efforts are often met with mistrust or reservation by the ulema, who view state interference as a threat to the independence of religious institutions and a potential attempt to secularize education.
• Recruitment to militancy is a multi-channel process; while some madrasas are involved, recruitment also occurs through local mullah networks, religio-political parties, kin/community ties, and regular secular schools or universities.

APA

Borchgrevink, K. (2010). Beyond Borders: Diversity and Transnational Links in Afghan Religious Education. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/63c1bd78-ce83-4c8d-89d9-571f3a566f1c/PRIO Paper_ Borchgrevink_ Beyond Borders Diversity and Transnational Links in Afghan Religious Education_September 2010.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Borchgrevink, Kaja. Beyond Borders: Diversity and Transnational Links in Afghan Religious Education. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2010. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/63c1bd78-ce83-4c8d-89d9-571f3a566f1c/PRIO Paper_ Borchgrevink_ Beyond Borders Diversity and Transnational Links in Afghan Religious Education_September 2010.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Borchgrevink |first1=Kaja |title=Beyond Borders: Diversity and Transnational Links in Afghan Religious Education |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=September 2010 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/63c1bd78-ce83-4c8d-89d9-571f3a566f1c/PRIO Paper_ Borchgrevink_ Beyond Borders Diversity and Transnational Links in Afghan Religious Education_September 2010.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{borchgrevink2010beyond, author = {Borchgrevink, Kaja}, title = {{Beyond Borders: Diversity and Transnational Links in Afghan Religious Education}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2010}, month = sep, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/63c1bd78-ce83-4c8d-89d9-571f3a566f1c/PRIO Paper_ Borchgrevink_ Beyond Borders Diversity and Transnational Links in Afghan Religious Education_September 2010.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }