Taliban
The Taliban are an Islamist militant movement primarily active in Afghanistan. They have governed Afghanistan at different times since the 1990s and are known for a strict interpretation of Islamic law and insurgent operations.
Overview
The Taliban are an Islamist movement and militant group that emerged in the 1990s in what is now southern Afghanistan. The name "Taliban" is Pashto for "students". They adhere to an austere, conservative interpretation of Sunni Islam and aim to govern according to their understanding of Islamic law. The group has alternated between serving as the national authorities and acting as an insurgency, and it remains a central actor in Afghan politics and regional security.
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Characteristics and organization
The movement is commonly described as fundamentalist in its religious and social approach and draws on Sunni theological traditions. Its internal structure includes senior leadership councils, regional commanders and locally based cadres. Decision-making often combines clerical decree with military considerations, and the movement has historically maintained a mix of political offices and armed units to administer territory and conduct operations.
History and development
The Taliban rose to prominence during the civil war that followed the Soviet withdrawal and the collapse of Afghanistan’s communist government. They seized control of Kabul in the mid-1990s and established an Islamic administration that ruled most of the country until 2001. After being ousted by a U.S.-led coalition following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the group continued an armed insurgency for two decades and regained control of much of the country in August 2021. Since then they have again assumed roles associated with state government, while facing international scrutiny.
Policies, impact and controversies
Policies implemented under Taliban rule have included strict restrictions on public life, particularly affecting women’s education, employment and movement. The group’s governance approach has generated concerns about human rights, humanitarian access and the safety of minorities. Its past ties to transnational militant networks and the potential for Afghanistan to be used as a base for external attacks have been central issues in international relations and security discussions.
Notable distinctions and contemporary issues
- Not a monolithic organization: local leaders and factions differ in priorities and tactics.
- Combines religious authority with military and administrative functions in areas it controls.
- International recognition and relations remain contested; engagement, sanctions and aid are shaped by concerns over governance and human rights.
- Peace talks, internal dynamics and regional diplomacy continue to influence stability and humanitarian outcomes.
Organization
Current leadership
As of 2021, the Taliban leadership consists of several regional decision-making bodies (Shūrā), named after the Pakistani cities in which they are located: Quetta Shura, Miranshah Shura, Peshawar Shura.
Those cities, according to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, are home to the Taliban's financial and logistics departments and personnel recruitment.
Leadership in the past
The Supreme Shūrā of the founding members of the Taliban included the following members during the period 1994 to 1997:
- Mullah Mohammed Omar (1960-2013), leader of the faithful and head of the Taliban movement, as of September 1996 also head of state of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
- Mullah Mohammad Rabbani Akhund (1955/56-2001), head of government and deputy head of the Taliban movement
- Mullah Mohammed Ghous Akhund (* 1965), Foreign Minister until June 1997
- Mullah Mohammed Hassan Akhund (b. 1958?), military chief of staff, foreign minister before Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil and governor of Kandahar during the Taliban regime
- Mullah Mohammed Fazil Akhund (b. 1967), head of the army corps
- Mullah Abdur Razzaq (b. 1966), head of the customs authority
- Mullah Sayed Ghiasuddin Agha (1960-2003), Minister of Information
- Mullah Khirullah Said Wali Khairkhwa (b. 1967), Interior Minister
- Maulvi Abdul Sattar Sanani (or: Sattar Sadozai), Minister of Justice
- Mullah Abdul Jalil (* 1961), Foreign Minister as of 1997
Ideology
Overview
The Taliban themselves belong more to the ideological school of the Deobandis, a fundamentalist group headquartered in Deoband, India. The Peshawar madrassa, the largest Pakistani offshoot of the Dar-ul-'Ulum-Haqqania madrassa, recruited many senior Taliban. The political branch and supporter of the Deobandis' schools is the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party in Pakistan. The U.S. called on the Pakistani government to close these religious schools (madrasas). However, they are not officially registered in Pakistan. In 2007, Pakistan's Ministry of Interior estimated their number at about 13,500; other estimates put it at 20,000. The relationship between the Sunni Taliban and the country's Shiite minorities is considered strained, although there are isolated Shiites in the ranks of the Taliban.[]
In the self-image conveyed by a Taliban spokesman in Doha in 2019, the Taliban are Afghanistan, so they do not see themselves as a part of the state, but as the state itself.
Oppression of women
During the Taliban's reign in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, its system of oppressing women gained worldwide notoriety. The Taliban's stated goal was to create a "safe environment for women in which their chastity and dignity would once again be inviolable." Women were forced to wear the burqa in public because, as a Taliban spokesman put it, "a woman's face is a source of corruption for men unrelated to her." Women were forbidden to work, and they were not allowed to be educated after the age of eight.
Apparently, and according to statements made by a Taliban press spokesman in 2019, there is an understanding that female professionals are indispensable, at least in medical professions. A Taliban press spokesman from Ghazni province commented in the ZDF documentary Eine gefährliche Mission: Unterwegs mit den Taliban in Afghanistan that girls and women also had a right to education under the Taliban.
→ Main article: Women's rights under the Taliban
Destruction of international cultural heritage
The Taliban deliberately destroyed cultural relics that they deemed un-Islamic. These included the Buddha statues of Bamiyan, listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, and Buddhist exhibits at the museum in Kabul.
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AlegsaOnline.com Taliban Leandro Alegsa
URL: https://en.alegsaonline.com/art/96126