AFGHAN TALIBAN

BACKGROUND

The Taliban is a Sunni Islamist nationalist and pro-Pashtun movement founded in the early 1990s that ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until October 2001. The movement’s founding nucleus—the word “Taliban” is Pashto for “students”—was composed of peasant farmers and men studying Islam in Afghan and Pakistani madrasas, or religious schools. The Taliban found a foothold and consolidated their strength in southern Afghanistan.

By 1994, the Taliban had moved their way through the south, capturing several provinces from various armed factions who had been fighting a civil war after the Soviet-backed Afghan government fell in 1992. The Taliban’s first move was to institute a strict interpretation of Qur‘anic instruction and jurisprudence. In practice, this meant often merciless policies on the treatment of women, political opponents of any type, and religious minorities.

Mullah Mohammad Omar

In the years leading up to the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, the Taliban provided a safe haven for al-Qa‘ida. This gave al-Qa‘ida a base in which it could freely recruit, train, and deploy terrorists to other countries. The Taliban held sway in Afghanistan until October 2001, when they were routed from power by the US-led campaign against al-Qa‘ida.

The Afghan Taliban’s leader is Mullah Mohammad Omar, who was the president of Afghanistan during the Taliban’s rule. The US Government is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.
The Afghan Taliban are responsible for most insurgent attacks in Afghanistan. In January 2014, the group staged a suicide and small-arms attack on the popular Lebanese Taverna restaurant in Kabul, killing 21 people, including three Americans, marking one of the deadliest attacks against Western civilians in Kabul since 2001. In a one-week span in March 2014, the Taliban conducted four high-profile attacks in Kabul city, culminating in a 28 March attack on a heavily guarded guesthouse in Kabul for employees of a US aid group. The targeted guesthouse was next to a Christian charity and day-care center that may have been the intended target. The next day, the Taliban conducted an attack on the headquarters of Afghanistan’s election commission with rockets and automatic rifles, following an attack on the provincial election office earlier that week. On 20 March, the Taliban attacked Kabul’s luxurious Serena Hotel, killing nine civilians who were all shot at point-blank range by four insurgents armed with small pistols smuggled inside.

Source: National Counterterrorism Center SUA

By

Robert Williams

Editor in Chief

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