Taliban

Government of Afghanistan between 1996 and 2002, which was dominated by an extreme Sunni Muslim political-religious ideology. The Taliban (“seekers”) began as a small movement of religious students in Kandahar around 1994. At that time, Afghanistan was a failing state, rendered unstable by war with the Soviets followed by a civil war as various indigenous movements and leaders fought for control of the government. None gained full popular support; and in Kandahar, these turf battles left the city in a state of virtual anarchy. The religious students in the city reacted to the corruption and infighting by advocating a strong, Islamic-based intervention.

[Page 707]The Taliban was overwhelmingly a movement of Pashtun peoples, though it did include other ethnic groups. Its major sources of coherence were a strict, radical, Sunni interpretation of Islam and devotion to the idea of an archetypal Islamic state. Their call for security and order, and the end of corruption, was widely attractive. The Taliban gained recruits from among university students and exmilitary officers, but particularly from among those educated in madrassas (religious schools) in refugee camps in Pakistan. They gradually took control of Afghanistan from 1994 to 1997, seizing abandoned equipment and seeking recruits as they went. The Taliban came to power in 1996 after seizing the Afghan capital of Kabul in September of that year and creating a ruling establishment. They ultimately controlled nearly 90% of the country.

Although they gained quick victories in the field, the Taliban had focused only on military campaigns and had little experience with civil government or foreign policy. The internal decision-making process and the chains of command were deliberately unclear, informal, and secretive. The Taliban tabled discussion of foreign affairs until stability could be achieved. Moreover, the Taliban attracted the attention of aid agencies and watchdog groups because of their human-rights violations, particularly against Shiite Muslims, members of other minority sects, and women. The Taliban did, however, restore order to much of the country by implementing the Islamic rule of law known as sharia.

Once in power, the Taliban began to enforce their narrow, puritanical interpretation of Islam, repudiating all elements of modern Western rationalism. The Taliban strongly regulated appropriate behavior. They issued edicts for proper appearance (long beards and turbans for men, burkas for women). They banned women from working, except within the health sector (a woman's duty was to bring up the next generation of Muslims) and closed girls' schools (pending the creation of a suitable curriculum). Because many women were teachers, boys' schools were often closed as well because of a lack of teachers. The Taliban also strongly condemned inappropriate behavior: The implementation of the sharia meant that adulterers were stoned and thieves had their hands cut off. The Taliban also banned music, games, and any representation of the human or animal form as being contrary to Islam. Later, the Department for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice acted as a religious police to enforce these decrees.

A Taliban militia member manning antiaircraft artillery in Afghanistan in 1995 during the period of civil strife between the Taliban rebels and government forces. In the fall of 1996, the Taliban finally managed to take the Afghan capital of Kabul and consolidate their power. After taking Kabul, the Taliban leaders began to institute their rigid and uncompromising fundamentalist brand of Islam.

Corbis.

The Taliban in Afghanistan became a rogue regime, openly flouting international conventions and harboring radical elements, such as members of the international terrorist group al-Qaeda. Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States, the United States appealed to the Taliban to extradite some of the known ringleaders, including al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. When the Taliban refused, the United States launched a military campaign against Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, to induce regime change and unearth the terrorists. [Page 708]The Taliban government officially capitulated to U.S. forces in January 2002, but many of their leaders remain at large.

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