Welcome to suicide bomber rehab

Several months ago, I decided to sit in on a rehabilitation class, joining about two dozen prisoners in a cramped classroom. I listened silently as a mullah spoke, emphasizing that the vast majority of Afghanistan’s 32 million people are Muslim—a not-so-subtle affront to what would be bombers learned in Pakistan.

The students responded to the teacher, but as they spoke, their heads were hunched, their eyes wandered and their bodies were slouched—all signs of disrespect in a normal Afghan classroom. Few seemed actively engaged in the discussion.

“If you’ve been through a lot of indoctrination,” says Ross, “it’s very hard to be dismayed.”