'Children are tools to achieve God's will,' the Taliban commander told me

Hazrat Ali longs for the day when his turn will come to be a suicide bomber. "There are thousands of us. The Taliban now have the power to defeat the army."

Qari Abdullah, a Taliban commander in charge of child recruitment, told me children are an essential element of Jihad. "If you're fighting, then God provides you with the means [to win]. Kids themselves are tools to achieve God's will. And whatever comes your way, you sacrifice it." ... Full Story »

Posted by John Louden
Tags Help
Subjects: World
Topics: Pakistan
Member Tags: taliban training children
Editorial Help
Posted by: Posted by John Louden - Jul 29, 2009 - 1:12 PM PDT
Content Type: Article
Edit Lock: This story can be edited
Edited by: Dwight Rousu - Jul 29, 2009 - 1:58 PM PDT

Reviews

Show All | Notes | Comments | Quotes | Links
John Louden
4.4
by John Louden - Jul. 29, 2009

First-hand reporting with quotes from both the children and the Taliban; also names three children who have died as suicide bombers. Author spent four months making a film on the Taliban.

Children as young as five and six years old are being recruited from poor families, he said. “The kids want to join us because they like our weapons.” More »

See Full Review » (12 answers)

Comments on this story Help (BETA)

NT Rating | My Rating

Ratings

4.1

not enough reviews
from 2 reviews (17% confidence)
Quality
4.1
Information
4.5
Insight
4.5
Style
4.0
Context
3.5
Expertise
4.0
Originality
3.5
Relevance
5.0
Responsibility
5.0
Popularity
4.0
Recommendation
5.0
Credibility
3.5
# Reviews
1.0
# Views
5.0
# Likes
1.0
# Emails
1.0
More
How our ratings work »

Topics

(See these related stories.)

Links Help

No links yet. Please review this story to add some!