A captured teenage insurgent jugged in Kabul's juvenile rehabilitation center says, "They bring us here to change us," "But this is our way. We cannot be changed." When he was captured, Asha told interrogators that he was 16, even though he thinks he is several years older, because sentences are halved for juveniles. Rather than serve time in conventional prisons, teenage insurgents are sent to minimally secured rehabilitation facilities, which look more like high schools than jails. Afghan authorities have taken to performing bone scans of young inmates to ascertain their ages, knowing that many lie.
At the Kabul center, detainees call Taliban members on borrowed cellphones to reassure them that their commitment to jihad has not weakened. Taliban commanders promise to reward the boys for serving prison sentences, the detainees said. While a group of boys told an American reporter that their ultimate goal was "to kill you people," a social worker within earshot appeared unfazed, saying nothing.
"How much progress are these centers really making?" said Latifullah Mashal, a spokesman for Afghanistan's intelligence service. |