One of the most important reasons that Islam has become a breeding ground for Muslim Extremists is that the majority of people in Muslim states are illiterate. Edward James Olmos, of CHiPS and Battlestar Gallactica fame, said that “education is a vaccine for violence.” And he’s right.
If we’re to win the wars against Extremist Islam, we have to educate the people about what the Koran really says – and not just the violent parts. Prior to 2001, Afghanistan had a literacy rate barely above 11% of the total population. Today, after 10 years of helping to create schools in which women could also be educated, that number has more than doubled to just above 28%.
In this photo by PO3 Michael James, Afghan National Army Pvt. Mohammed Khalil, the 100,000th Basic Warrior Training graduate to go through literacy training, is awarded a plaque and pen by Brig. Gen. Amlaqullah Patyani, the Kabul Military Training Center Commander, at Kabul Military Training Center in Kabul, Afghanistan, in recognition of the Afghan National Security Force’s accomplishments in the realm of education and literacy. Basic Warrior Training Kandak 162 graduated 1,287 soldiers, all of whom will continue training at various Afghan National Army Branch Schools or the Consolidated Fielding Center in Kabul, either of which training routes will offer further literacy training to the soldiers.
