Photo Gallery Resocializing the Taliban
The Swat Valley in northern Pakistan was once a vacation paradise -- until the Taliban took over the region in the autumn of 2007. The Pakistani military took back the region in 2009 -- and are now trying to re-educate those who sympathized with the radical Islamists.
In Gulibagh, in the heart of the Swat Valley, the army has set up a de-radicalization center, one of four. Former Taliban sympathizers are being prepared to return to society.
Major Waqas Akbar, who directs the program in Gulibagh, says the goal is to "remove radical thoughts."
The prisoners are taught valuable skills such as how to use computers. But they are also engaged in intensive one-on-one interviews.
Before launching the de-radicalization program, the Pakistani military examined similar programs in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, studied the reintegration of right-wing radicals in Denmark and looked at the post-World War II denazification program in Germany.
Many of the prisoners have a hard time following the lessons. They speak Pashto, but the official army language is Urdu.
Not all of those in the prison were willing followers of the Taliban when they arrived. "They went into every single house and demanded obedience," says one prisoner. "There was nothing else we could do but do what they demanded of us."
The army works together with psychologists and they conduct six individual interviews with each prisoner during the 12-week course. Each interview lasts for five to six hours.
Faiz Ali Khan, 40, worked as a journalist at a local newspaper prior to his arrest. In prison, he has taken to writing poems.
Religious instruction is also an important part of the de-radicalization course. The prisoners are taught, for example, that one can pursue jihad with a pen and paper instead of weapons.
"Our prisoners here in Gulibagh are not hardcore terrorists," Major Waqas says. Once the course is finished and the men are released, they receive frequent visits from soldiers to check how their resocialization is going.
