“Education on the Front Lines”: Military Use of Schools in Afghanistan’s Baghlan Province

Based on a research mission in April 2016, this report documents the occupation or other use for military purposes of 12 schools in one area of Baghlan province in north-eastern Afghanistan. Although conditions in Baghlan reflect the particular dynamics of the conflict in the northeast, where tensions between local security forces and government officials have erupted over military policy, security forces have used schools in other conflictaffected areas of the country as well, and statistics provided by the United Nations indicate that the problem is getting worse. The use of schools by Afghan security forces has severely harmed children’s right to education in Afghanistan, affecting tens of thousands of school children at all levels of education, and thousands of teachers and education administrators.