US Military Wants to Teach Taliban to Make Bread, Not Bombs

Taliban prisoners at an Afghan detention facility will soon get a chance to trade their bomb-making skills for bread making, at least if a new vocational re-education program announced today goes forward.

The program, which will be conducted at the Parwan detention facility in Afghanistan, is part of a broader effort aimed at reintegrating former Taliban into Afghan society.

U.S. soldiers and media members walk towards a section of newly built US run Parwan Detention Facility in Bagram north of Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday, Aug 27, 2010.

Musadeq Sadeq, AP

U.S. soldiers and media members walk toward a section of the U.S.-run Parwan Detention Facility in Bagram, Afghanistan. The U.S. military has announced a new vocational re-education program for Taliban prisoners at the facility.

"Participants may learn a trade in tailoring, agriculture or baking, taught through the reintegration directorate," the U.S. military said in a press release announcing the new program.

"Vocational training for detainees provides them skills and options so they can live long, peaceful lives," said Navy Vice Adm. Robert S. Harward, who heads the task force in charge of detention operations.

In addition to vocational training, former insurgents will be offered civics courses.

The Parwan detention center is just a few miles from Bagram Air Base and was established as a model facility, in part to help counter reports of abuse at the Bagram detention facility.

A reporter for Time magazine, who visited the Parwan facility, described it as having "the feel of a new suburban YMCA." The Afghan government is expected to continue the vocational program at Parwan even after it assumes control of the Parwan facility.

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The vocational program is part of the broader Afghanistan reintegration effort announced by Afghan President Hamid Karzai in January 2010. It received support from U.S. officials, including Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who served as the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan until his death late last year.

But the ambitious plan was slow in getting off the ground, Holbrooke acknowledged last fall. "It is not yet operational because the government of Afghanistan has not yet gotten it up and running," he said, in response to a question from ABC News' Christiane Amanpour about how many Taliban had actually been reintegrated.

Estimates for the program's cost have run as high as $500 million.