The US military is funding the construction of Islamic schools, or madrassas, in the east of Afghanistan in an attempt to stem the tide of young people going to radical religious schools in Pakistan.

Such schools spawned the Taliban movement, which harboured Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader behind the September 11 terror attacks on the US, before it was swept from power in 2001.

US reconstruction cash has helped establish two state-run madrassas in the province of Khost, and a third is on its way.

Commander David Adams, head of the US provincial reconstruction team in Khost, the province on the border with Pakistan, said more were planned. 

“We would like to see small religious schools in every district so that parents don’t have to send their children over the border [to Pakistan],” he told the Financial Times.

The initiative shows how much leeway US commanders have been given to implement counter-insurgency strategies that focus on development and education.

In parts of eastern Afghanistan, US soldiers distribute copies of the Koran and “mosque refurbishment kits” that include sound systems powered by solar panels and prayer rugs.

John Kael Weston, the state department’s political representative in the Khost reconstruction team, holds weekly meetings with madrassa students.

“Just look at it from their perspective – if we just talk about girls’ education, for example, it just plays into the propaganda about the US. They think that the Americans will be opening up strip joints and restaurants selling alcohol on every corner.”

Hanif Atmar, Afghanistan’s minister of education, is pushing for madrassas to fall within the state system to ensure that the curriculum includes secular disciplines such as science and languages as well as traditional religious education.

Colonel Martin Schweitzer, brigade commander of Task Force Fury, which is responsible for security and reconstruction in parts of eastern Afghanistan, said he had been reassured by Mr Atmar’s approach.

“We’re talking separate schools for boys and girls to develop the curriculum that’s within their governmental parameters of how they want [to develop] their people and their country, their vision and their way of life.”