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Pakistan: Taliban brainwashes kids with visions of virgins
By Arwa Damon, CNN
Nawaz Kot, Pakistan (CNN) -- "When we got to this compound it was shocking for us," Lt. Col. Yusuf tells us, standing in the middle of what the Pakistani military says was a brainwashing center -- for children.
It was here, according to the Pakistani military, that children aged 12 to 18 were turned from innocent youngsters into cold-blooded killers, willing to blow themselves to bits as suicide bombers.
The discovery of the compound was first reported in Pakistani media last month. Yusuf says his unit took it over after a three day battle with militants.
Part of the compound consists of four rooms -- each wall adorned with brightly colored paintings in clear contrast to the barren and harsh landscape surrounding it. The children were told that this was what awaited them in heaven.
Each of the images has a river flowing through it. Some have people playing in the water. Others have women lining the banks.
The military says that the children are told that these are rivers of milk and honey, that the women are the virgins that await them in heaven. That the children were told that they will live in the company of the holy prophet and be served feasts.
One has a home similar to the mud homes in the area which the military says is meant to invoke memories of where the children are from but with a beautiful mountainous green backdrop. Written across it are the words "Long live the Taliban of the mountains."
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By Arwa Damon, CNN
Nawaz Kot, Pakistan (CNN) -- "When we got to this compound it was shocking for us," Lt. Col. Yusuf tells us, standing in the middle of what the Pakistani military says was a brainwashing center -- for children.
It was here, according to the Pakistani military, that children aged 12 to 18 were turned from innocent youngsters into cold-blooded killers, willing to blow themselves to bits as suicide bombers.
The discovery of the compound was first reported in Pakistani media last month. Yusuf says his unit took it over after a three day battle with militants.
Part of the compound consists of four rooms -- each wall adorned with brightly colored paintings in clear contrast to the barren and harsh landscape surrounding it. The children were told that this was what awaited them in heaven.
Each of the images has a river flowing through it. Some have people playing in the water. Others have women lining the banks.
The military says that the children are told that these are rivers of milk and honey, that the women are the virgins that await them in heaven. That the children were told that they will live in the company of the holy prophet and be served feasts.
One has a home similar to the mud homes in the area which the military says is meant to invoke memories of where the children are from but with a beautiful mountainous green backdrop. Written across it are the words "Long live the Taliban of the mountains."
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I thought it was interesting how they picture heaven as a lush, blue and green world were kids are free to play and run around in swimming trunks when contrasted with the sandy, rather barren districts most of the recruits come from. A thing I noticed was the faces on the pictures seem to have been covered with spots of paint(?).
It's a shallow analysis, but they appear just like poor tribal area kids dreaming of a carefree life in the Pakistan river valleys below them, a world they can look into and visit but presumably not be a part of (in this life). It's interesting to compare their paradise with images of Swat valley which the Taliban captured briefly a year ago:
True Christians educate people with visions of hell 
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