Looking to keep the [Soviet–Afghan] war fueled, Washington– where the prevailing ethos was to bleed the Russians until the last Afghan– financed textbooks for schoolchildren in refugee camps that were festooned with illustrations of Kalashnikovs, swords, and overturned tanks. One such edition declared: “Jihad is a kind of war that Muslims fight in the name of God to free Muslims… If infidels invade, jihad is the obligation of every Muslim.” An American text designed to teach children the Farsi alphabet began
Aleph [is for] Allah; Allah is one
Bey [is for] Baba (father); Father goes to the mosque
Tey [is for] Tofang (rifle); Javed obtains rifles for the mujahedeen
Jeem [is for] Jihad; Jihad is an obligation. My mom went to the jihad.
– No Good Men Among The Living (2014) by Anand Gopal