Would be suicide bombers converted
- 12 years ago
Today, 18 year old Abdul Wahab spends his days inside a high security detention center in Kabul.
Until a few months ago, he worked in a fruit market in Pakistan. Then one day, the teen, who walks with a limp, was approached by a member of the Taliban.
(SOUNDBITE)(Pashto) ABDUL WAHAB, DISABLED WOULD-BE SUICIDE BOMBER, SAYING:
"I was approached by a member of the Taliban who asked me to carry out a suicide attack. He knew me from before and said: 'Your parents are very old, you are not able to marry because you are disabled, you cant take care of yourself and a wife, it's good for you to carry out a suicide attack.' I asked him, 'Why don't you do it?' He said, 'Because I have a responsibility to prepare all Muslims for this mission."
Abdul is one of many prisoners at the National Directorate Security detention center in Kabul who are undergoing a deradicalisation process... education to help pry them away from the grips of the Taliban.
Lutfullah Mashal is the spokesperson for the center and says the Taliban tend to target poor, uneducated young boys.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) LUTFULLAH MASHAL, SPOKESMAN FOR NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF SECURITY (NDS) SAYING:
"They isolate them from the rest of the students, they train them and in most cases they hypnotize them. They work with them psychologically and they give them a wrong picture of Afghanistan."
While reading verses from the Koran, a cleric tells prisoners that suicide is forbidden in Islam. In fact, suicide attacks account for the second highest number of deaths after roadside bombs.
And with the 2014 troop withdrawal fast approaching, security officials hope to takle the problem sooner rather than later.
Julie Noce, Reuters
Until a few months ago, he worked in a fruit market in Pakistan. Then one day, the teen, who walks with a limp, was approached by a member of the Taliban.
(SOUNDBITE)(Pashto) ABDUL WAHAB, DISABLED WOULD-BE SUICIDE BOMBER, SAYING:
"I was approached by a member of the Taliban who asked me to carry out a suicide attack. He knew me from before and said: 'Your parents are very old, you are not able to marry because you are disabled, you cant take care of yourself and a wife, it's good for you to carry out a suicide attack.' I asked him, 'Why don't you do it?' He said, 'Because I have a responsibility to prepare all Muslims for this mission."
Abdul is one of many prisoners at the National Directorate Security detention center in Kabul who are undergoing a deradicalisation process... education to help pry them away from the grips of the Taliban.
Lutfullah Mashal is the spokesperson for the center and says the Taliban tend to target poor, uneducated young boys.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) LUTFULLAH MASHAL, SPOKESMAN FOR NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF SECURITY (NDS) SAYING:
"They isolate them from the rest of the students, they train them and in most cases they hypnotize them. They work with them psychologically and they give them a wrong picture of Afghanistan."
While reading verses from the Koran, a cleric tells prisoners that suicide is forbidden in Islam. In fact, suicide attacks account for the second highest number of deaths after roadside bombs.
And with the 2014 troop withdrawal fast approaching, security officials hope to takle the problem sooner rather than later.
Julie Noce, Reuters