The Telegraph has an article today that is rather revolutionary.

American forces in Afghanistan are building madrassas in an attempt to persuade parents not to send their children across the border to Pakistan for instruction at hard-line religious schools.

Work has started on two "super-madrassas" in Paktika, which borders Pakistan, and more are planned. The American government is also paying for the refurbishment of mosques in the area, in the hope of winning over religious leaders. The coalition has been under growing pressure over the deaths of civilians and American military commanders say they hope the moves will convince Afghans - many of whom rely on madrassas to provide bed and board for their children - that they are on the same side.

"We are saying that we respect their culture and religion," said naval commander Eduardo Fernandez, the man in charge of American aid efforts in the Sharana district of Paktika. "We have to give the religious leaders the respect they feel they deserve."

Each madrassa will accommodate 1,000 boarding pupils, all of them boys.

This is a pretty remarkable idea. Isn’t it a bit of a shame that no one had thought of this four years ago, when we had beaten down the Taliban and actually controlled most of Afghanistan, and more importantly, had the confidence and the support of the populace?

OK, lost milk, tears, and all that. Afghanistan never had much of a school system for “secular” (non-religious) education as far as I know, other than in Kabul. If someone knows otherwise, please correct me, because I wasn’t able to find information on the subject.

But rather than huge centralized schools the real issue is building, funding, and protecting many smaller schools. That is step two and it should be implemented.

"In Afghan terms it is a madrassa, but those words have baggage and if word gets back to a Western public that we are building madrassas, that is a bad thing," said Major Jason Smallfield, 37, an American officer in Sharana. "It is a religious school, but it is not a religious education. The governor is trying to ensure that there is some sort of control over the curriculum, to ensure that radical Islam is not being fomented through these schools."

More than five years after the fall of the Taliban, education remains a battleground in Afghanistan. For many children, the choice is still a religious education, or no education at all.

Well, yeah, but I’ll just bet this will stir up a shit storm on the never-right side of blogtopia (y!sctp!) Admittedly, a few of the writers over there are kind of perceptive, like John Cole and uhhh… But then you have the Freepers and the Fox Noise fans.

Under the Taliban, much of the Afghan population was denied an education, and 90 per cent of women and 63 per of men are illiterate. The remnants of the old regime still try to exert their will, killing teachers and burning down schools. Of 154 schools in the south-western province of Oruzgan, 107 are closed; 58 of those have been burnt or damaged and the rest are shut because teachers are too frightened to attend.

Schools that employ women teachers and admit girls are most at risk of becoming Taliban targets - one reason why, across Afghanistan, 70 per cent of boys are in school but only 40 per cent of girls.

This is basic hearts and minds stuff, aimed at the next generation. If we can demonstrate the schools will do more than religious instruction, and actually give their children knowledge that will help them, we’ve gained the Victory of Trust. And by all means educate the girls, too.

Girls wanted to study so that they could become doctors or teachers, said one pupil, Palwasha, 14, but they face challenges unknown to Western schoolchildren. Sports such as football and volleyball are off limits because there is no walled-off area where they can be screened from male eyes.

They also fear the Taliban. Wazhma, 13, said a letter had been pushed under the door of another school recently, warning that if girls continued to attend, it would be burnt down. Yet in some places parents accept that the future lies in education. In the village of Oria Khail, over the mountains from Badam Qul, Mahtab, a mother of 10, said they had to persevere.

"I want to see development like in other countries," she said. "We can't do anything on our own. But with support, in 15 to 20 years, we will have our own doctors and teachers and engineers in this village."

Build the schools and keep the people safe. Elementary COIN strategy. Now, about those hospitals…