Senior journalist Murtaza Solangi, speaking on the Azaad Siasat podcast, revealed startling details about the origins of jihad and extremism in Afghanistan, claiming that Afghan children were systematically influenced towards jihad and weaponry from an early age under a well-planned strategy.
According to Solangi, Western powers, particularly the United States, played a key role in setting up what he referred to as “jihad factories” in Afghanistan. He alleged that a deliberate and strategic campaign was launched to influence Afghan children’s minds, involving the distribution of around 15 million primary school books and literature promoting jihadist ideologies.
Displaying some of the material, Solangi said that schoolbooks used for teaching basic numeracy were embedded with violent imagery. For example, the number one was illustrated with a Kalashnikov rifle, and the number two with two knives. Other numbers were associated with grenades and various weapons, subtly conditioning children to become familiar with and attracted to arms and warfare.
He highlighted a Grade One mathematics book published in Pashto as an example, in which numbers were taught using weapon illustrations. Solangi claimed this was not accidental but part of a larger scheme to mentally prepare children for militancy.
Solangi further alleged that these efforts were fully backed by the United States and other Western powers. He stated that the goal behind the American intervention was to instigate aggression against the Soviet Union, turning Afghanistan into Russia’s Vietnam, a strategy meant to avenge the US defeat in Vietnam.
As part of this plan, a generation of Afghans was groomed to adopt jihadist values, which later fueled terrorism. Solangi argued that while Pakistan was eventually blamed for promoting jihad culture, the foundations of extremism were laid by the West.
He also referred to statements by former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who admitted during a visit to Pakistan that the West shared responsibility for the rise in terrorism. Solangi added that former President Donald Trump also acknowledged these past mistakes and initiated efforts to rectify them.
Citing the example of Thomas Gouttierre, an American who came to Afghanistan in the 1960s, Solangi said he played a significant role in crafting jihad-focused educational content. Backed by millions of dollars from the US government and supported by the Afghanistan Studies Centre, Gouttierre helped produce and distribute millions of books intended to indoctrinate children with the idea that Russians were infidels and jihad was a religious duty.
Solangi concluded that the West sowed the seeds of extremism in the region, but Pakistan ended up paying the price. He pointed out that more than 80,000 Pakistanis lost their lives in the war against terrorism, and the country suffered economic losses amounting to $150 billion.
He reiterated that the roots of militancy were not in Pakistan but planted by Western powers, and the burden of their policies continues to haunt the region to this day.
