Ten years ago, I was in an interrogation room with the U.S. military at a detention facility in Parwan, Afghanistan. Through an interpreter, I asked the captured Taliban commander sitting in front of me how long he intended to continue fighting us. “You're keeping me in a cage. My fight is over for now,” he said. “But my children will fight you, and if they do not win, their children will fight you. Even if it takes a thousand years, we will win.”
Our enemies are focused on fighting a long war with the West and continually educating the next generation to pick up the torch. In fact, Taliban means “student” in Pashto, and is named after the graduates of schools run by the Taliban and its allies that indoctrinate children to become jihadists.
We must educate young people about our history and who our enemies are. Otherwise, others will distort the facts and educate you.
When the Taliban invaded Kabul in 2021, newsreels were filled with footage of young fighters, many of whom weren't even born when the war began, demonstrating just how effective this generational warfare strategy can be. It was showing.
A little more than a decade before that interaction in Afghanistan, I vividly remember witnessing the collapse of the Twin Towers, as do all Americans who lived there. This event deeply shaped not only me but my entire generation. But what do people here in the United States who were born right after or just before 9/11 know about our enemy?
That was 23 years ago, and this represents a significant portion of our population, including much of our military. Have we taught our children not only about what happened on September 11, 2001, but also about who our enemies are who carried out such atrocities? Al-Qaeda. Whether our children knew it or not, they were just one group in a long list of enemies who share the same purpose and are undoubtedly targeting this generation.
On October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists attacked, killed, and raped civilian concert attendees and other Israeli civilians and captured them in their homes, we warned that American students were not allowed to come to campus to support terrorists. I witnessed them coming out in droves, which was unthinkable in the early days. 2000s. A survey of U.S. college students conducted by Generation Lab found that 12% viewed terrorist attacks as a legitimate act of resistance by Hamas, and 48% did not even condemn the terrorist organization.
One in eight college students openly supports the slaughter of innocent civilians by terrorist organizations, which is clearly not a majority, but it is a number that would appall any sane person. We are not doing our job of properly educating the next generation.
In response to campus protests, a Congressional committee summoned the presidents of some of America's most prestigious universities, but we witnessed an unwillingness and gross incompetence to answer simple questions on this issue. , which ultimately led to the resignation of two of the three university presidents who were served with subpoenas.
I asked two members of that committee for their opinion. “Our universities are failing the moral test of helping students distinguish between right and wrong,” Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) told me. “Moral clarity is needed now more than ever in higher education to ensure that future generations know who America's true enemies are.”
But what are we doing as parents to make sure our children understand who our enemy is before they reach adulthood?
“We have witnessed the woefully inadequate response of leaders at some of America’s most prestigious universities when it comes to addressing pro-Hamas and anti-Semitic sentiment on their campuses. “It has become increasingly clear how important it is for future generations to understand this issue and the threat we face to our freedoms and American values,” said Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) State) said.
We must educate young people about our history and who our enemies are. Otherwise, others will distort the facts and educate you. Today, the jihadist enemies are waging an ideological struggle in the United States rather than on foreign battlefields. They understand that the next generation of presidents, governors, legislators, and voters are now in our schools and universities, effectively reaching out to them. It is our responsibility to prepare these young people by teaching them the truth about our enemy. The strength and future of our country depends on it.
