| Taliban طالبان | |
|---|---|
| Participant in the Civil war in Afghanistan (1992-2001), the War in Afghanistan (2001-present) and the Waziristan War | |
 Taliban flag | |
| Active | since September 1994 |
| Ideology | Islamic fundamentalism and Pashtun nationalism |
| Leaders | Mullah Mohammed Omar Mullah Obaidullah Akhund (captured) |
| Area of operations | Afghanistan and Pakistan[1] |
| Strength | 12,000 (self-claimed) |
| Originated as | Mujahideen groups in the Soviet war in Afghanistan |
| Allies |  al-QaedaHezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin Islamic Emirate of Waziristan Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan |
| Opponents |  Iran Afghanistan Northern AllianceISAF (led by NATO) Operation Enduring Freedom Allies |
The Taliban (Pashto: طالبان ṭālibān, also anglicised as Taleban) are a Sunni Islamist movement[2] that ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001, when their leaders were removed from power by a cooperative military effort between the Northern Alliance and NATO countries. The Civil war in Afghanistan, also known as Afghan Civil War, began in 1978 and has continued The War in Afghanistan, which began on October 7 2001 as the U The War in North-West Pakistan is an armed conflict between the Pakistani Army and Islamist militants made up by local tribesmen the Taliban and foreign extremists Islamic fundamentalism Arabic: usul (from usul the "fundamentals"] is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the Mullah Mohammed Omar ( Pashto: ملا محمد عمر (born c Mullah Obaidullah the Akhund ( Pashto: ps ملا عبيدالله آخوند Afghanistan /æfˈgænɪstæn/ officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ( Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت, Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and A Mujahid (Arabic ar مجاهد, literally "struggler" is a Muslim involved in a Jihad, id est fighting in a war or The Soviet war in Afghanistan, also known as the Soviet-Afghan War or just the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, was a nine-year conflict involving Al-Qaeda, alternatively spelled al-Qaida, al-Qa`ida or al-Qa`idah, ( Arabic:; ar-Latn ''al-qāʿidah'' Translation: The The Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin is the larger of two factions of Afghanistan 's Hezbi Islami Party The Islamic Emirate of Waziristan (اسلامی امارات وزیرستان also known as the Islamic Republic of Waziristan, is a rebel organization in Waziristan The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan ( IMU) was a militant Islamist group formed in 1998 by former Soviet paratrooper Juma Namangani, and the For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. Afghanistan /æfˈgænɪstæn/ officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ( Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت, The United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( UIF, Jabha-yi Muttahid-i Islami-yi Milli bara-yi Nijat-i Afghanistan) also known as the Northern International Security Assistance Force (10 ( ISAF) is a NATO -led security and development mission in Afghanistan established by the United Nations The North Atlantic Treaty Several nations took on both the Taliban and terrorists during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan during initial combat operations starting in October 2001 in the Pashto ( Naskh: پښتو pəʂ'to also rendered as Pakhto, Pushto, Pukhto, Pashtu, Pushtu, also known as Anglicisation or anglicization (see -ise vs -ize) is a process of conversion of verbal or written elements of any other language into a more comprehensible English Sunni Islam is the largest denomination of Islam. Sunni Islam is also referred to as Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘h (Arabic Islamism ( Islam + ism; Arabic: al-'islāmiyya) a set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only Afghanistan /æfˈgænɪstæn/ officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan ( Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت, The United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( UIF, Jabha-yi Muttahid-i Islami-yi Milli bara-yi Nijat-i Afghanistan) also known as the Northern The North Atlantic Treaty Committed fundamentalist insurgents, often described as "Taliban" in the media, originating[3] in the Frontier Tribal Areas of Pakistan, are currently engaged in a protracted guerrilla war against the current government of Afghanistan, allied NATO forces participating in Operation Enduring Freedom, and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. Fundamentalism refers to a "deep and totalistic commitment" to a belief in and strict adherence to a set of basic principles (often Religious in nature a reaction An insurgency is a violent internal uprising against a sovereign government that lacks the organization of a revolution The Federally Administered Tribal Areas ( FATA) in Pakistan are areas outside the four provinces bordering Afghanistan, comprising a region Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and Guerrilla warfare is the unconventional warfare and combat with which a small group of combatants use mobile tactics (ambushes raids etc In recent years the politics of Afghanistan have been dominated by the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, by the NATO forces and the subsequent efforts The North Atlantic Treaty Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF is the official name used by the U The North Atlantic Treaty International Security Assistance Force (10 ( ISAF) is a NATO -led security and development mission in Afghanistan established by the United Nations [4]
The Taliban movement was headed by Mullah Mohammed Omar. Mullah ( ملا) is a Muslim learned in Islamic theology and sacred law Mullah Mohammed Omar ( Pashto: ملا محمد عمر (born c Beneath Mullah Omar were "a mixture of former small-unit military commanders and Madrasah teachers"[5] and then a rank and file most of whom had studied in Islamic religious schools in Pakistan. "Madrasa" and "Medrese" redirect here For the village in Azerbaijan see Mədrəsə. "Madrasa" and "Medrese" redirect here For the village in Azerbaijan see Mədrəsə. Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and The overwhelming majority of Taliban movement were ethnic Pashtuns from southern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, along with a smaller number of volunteers from elsewhere, for example Europe or China. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National The Taliban received valuable training, supplies and arms from the Pakistani government, particularly the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)[23], and many recruits from Madrasahs for Afghan refugees in Pakistan, primarily ones established by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam JUI. History After independence in 1947 two new intelligence agencies were created in Pakistan called the Intelligence Bureau (IB and Military Intelligence "Madrasa" and "Medrese" redirect here For the village in Azerbaijan see Mədrəsə. Afghan refugees (known as Muhajir Afghans in South Asia) are people who fled Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979 and during the The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Assembly of Islamic Clergy or JUI is a Political party in Pakistan.
Although in control of Afghanistan's capital (Kabul) and much or most of the country for five years, the Taliban regime, or "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," gained diplomatic recognition from only three states: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. } Kābul ( Persian and Pashto: کابل, IPA:) is the Capital and largest city of Afghanistan, with Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was the name given to the nation of Afghanistan by the Taliban during their rule from 1996 to 2001 Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral political act with domestic and international legal consequences whereby a state acknowledges an act The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KSA ( المملكة العربية السعودية, al-Mamlaka al-ʻArabiyya as-Suʻūdiyya) or Suudi Human rights abuses denied it United Nations recognition and most of the world's states, including Iran, India, Turkey, Russia, USA and most Central Asian republics opposed the Taliban and aided its rival (Afghan Northern Alliance).
While in power, the Taliban implemented the "strictest interpretation of Sharia law ever seen in the Muslim world,"[6] and became notorious internationally for their mistreatment of women. Sharia ( Arabic: ar شريعة) is the body of Islamic Religious law. The term Muslim world (or Islamic world) has several meanings in power in Afghanistan the Taliban became notorious internationally within the Western Community for their treatment of women. [7] Women were forced to wear the burqa in public. A burqa (also Transliterated burkha, burka or burqua) is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic traditions for the [8] They were allowed neither to work nor to be educated after the age of eight,[7] and until then were permitted only to study the Qur'an. The Qur’an ( القرآن, literally "the recitation" also sometimes transliterated as Qur’ān, Koran, Alcoran [7] Women seeking an education were forced to attend underground schools, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught. [7] They were not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male family member or husband chaperone, which led to illnesses remaining untreated. They faced public flogging in the street,[9] and both men and women faced public execution for violations of the Taliban's laws. [10][11]
Etymology
The word Taliban is from the Arabic طالبان ṭālibān, " students", loaned from Arabic, طالب ṭālib, the Arabic plural being طلاب ṭullāb. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Since becoming a loanword in English, Taliban besides a plural noun referring to the group is also used as a singular noun referring to an individual. A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one Language from another with little or no translation For example, John Walker Lindh has been referred to as "an American Taliban" besides the more correct "an American Talib". John Phillip Walker Lindh (born February 9, 1981) is an American who was captured during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan while serving [12]
Origin
The Taliban initially had enormous goodwill from Afghans weary of the corruption, brutality and incessant fighting of Mujahideen warlords. A Mujahid (Arabic ar مجاهد, literally "struggler" is a Muslim involved in a Jihad, id est fighting in a war or Two contrasting narratives of the beginnings of the Taliban[13] are that the rape and murder of boys and girls from a family traveling to Kandahar or a similar outrage by Mujahideen bandits sparked Mullah Omar and his students to vow to rid Afghanistan of these criminals. [14] The other is that the Pakistan-based truck shipping mafia known as the "Afghanistan Transit Trade" and their allies in the Pakistan government, trained, armed and financed the Taliban to clear the southern road across Afghanistan to the Central Asian Republics of extortionate bandit gangs. [15]
Though there is no evidence that the CIA directly supported the Taliban or Al Qaeda, some basis for military support of the Taliban was provided when, in the early 1980s, the CIA and the ISI (Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence Agency) provided arms to Afghans resisting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the ISI assisted the process of gathering radical Muslims from around the world to fight against the Soviets. near as long as it used to be several months ago It has been actively summarized and split into sub-articles and there is a dynamic talk page discussion of all Al-Qaeda, alternatively spelled al-Qaida, al-Qa`ida or al-Qa`idah, ( Arabic:; ar-Latn ''al-qāʿidah'' Translation: The Osama Bin Laden was one of the key players in organizing training camps for the foreign Muslim volunteers. Osama bin Laden, with some spelling variations is the name used in English to refer to (أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن born 10 March The U. S. poured funds and arms into Afghanistan and "by 1987, 65,000 tons of U. S. -made weapons and ammunition a year were entering the war". [16]
The Taliban were based in the Helmand, Kandahar and Uruzgan regions, and were overwhelmingly ethnic Pashtuns and predominantly Durrani Pashtuns. Helmand ( هلمند) is one of the 34 Provinces of Afghanistan. Kandahar or Qandahar ( Pashto: کندھار, Persian: قندهار) is one of the largest of the thirty-four Provinces of Orūzgān ( Persian and Pashto: اروزگان also spelt Oruzgan or Uruzgan) is one of the thirty-four Provinces of Afghanistan Durrānī ( or Abdālī ( is the name of a chief Tribal Confederation in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They received training and arms from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia as well as other Middle Eastern countries who had been recruited by the U. S. to thwart the Soviet invasion of this region.
The first major military activity of the Taliban was in October-November 1994 when they marched from Maiwand in southern Afghanistan to capture Kandahar City and the surrounding provinces, losing only a few dozen men. Maywand District is situated in the western part of the Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. For the 2001 film see Kandahar (film; for the Kandahar meteorite of 1959 see Meteorite falls; for the places in Azerbaijan see Cəndəhar and [17] Starting with the capture of a border crossing and a huge ammunition dump from warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a few weeks later they freed "a convoy trying to open a trade route from Pakistan to Central Asia" from another group of warlords attempting to extort money. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ( ګلبدین حکمتیار) (born 1947 is an Islamist Mujahideen leader and former warlord. [18] In the next three months this hitherto "unknown force" took control of twelve of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, with Mujahideen warlords often surrendering to them without a fight and the "heavily armed population" giving up their weapons. The Provinces of Afghanistan (locally recognized as wilayats - ولايت are the primary Administrative divisions of Afghanistan. [19] By September 1996 they captured Afghanistan's capital, Kabul. } Kābul ( Persian and Pashto: کابل, IPA:) is the Capital and largest city of Afghanistan, with
Taliban ideology and its application
The Taliban's extremely strict and "anti-modern" ideology has been described as an "innovative form of sharia combining Pashtun tribal codes",[20] or Pashtunwali, with radical Deobandi interpretations of Islam favored by members of the Pakistani fundamentalist Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) organization and its splinter groups. Sharia ( Arabic: ar شريعة) is the body of Islamic Religious law. Pashtunwali ( پښتونوالی) or Pakhtunwali is a Concept of living or philosophy for the Pashtun people and is regarded as an Honour The Deobandi ( Urdu: دیو بندی devbandī) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist movement which started in India and has more recently The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Assembly of Islamic Clergy or JUI is a Political party in Pakistan. Also contributing to the admixture was the Wahhabism of their Saudi financial benefactors, and the jihadism and pan-Islamism of sometime comrade-in-arms Osama bin Laden. Wahhabism ( Arabic: Al-Wahhābīyya الوهابية or Wahabism is a conservative reformist call of Sunni Islam attributed to Pan-Islamism ( اتّحاد الاسلام) is a Political movement advocating the unity of Muslims under one Islamic state or a Caliphate Osama bin Laden, with some spelling variations is the name used in English to refer to (أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن born 10 March [21] Their ideology was a departure from the Islamism of the anti-Soviet mujahideen rulers they replaced who tended to be mystical Sufis, traditionalists, or radical Islamicists inspired by the Ikhwan. Islamism ( Islam + ism; Arabic: al-'islāmiyya) a set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only Sufism ( تصوّف - taṣawwuf, Persian: صوفیگری sufigari, Turkish: tasavvuf, Urdu: تصوف The Muslim Brothers ( Arabic: الإخوان المسلمون al-ikhwān al-muslimūn, full title The Society of the Muslim Brothers, often simply الإخوان [22]
Sharia law was interpreted to ban a wide variety of activities hitherto lawful in Afghanistan, see below. Critics complained that most Afghans were non-Pashtuns who followed a different, less strict and less intrusive interpretation of Islam. Despite their similarity to the Wahhabis, the Taliban did not eschew all traditional popular practices. They did not destroy the graves of pirs (holy men) and emphasized dreams as a means of revelation. Pir ( Persian: (پیر literally "old " is a title for a Sufi master [23]
Taliban relationship with ethnicity was mixed. Following Deobandi and Islamist anti-nationalist belief, they opposed "tribal and feudal structures," and eliminated from "leadership roles" traditional tribal or feudal leaders. The Deobandi ( Urdu: دیو بندی devbandī) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist movement which started in India and has more recently Islamism ( Islam + ism; Arabic: al-'islāmiyya) a set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only [24] On the other hand, since they were very reluctant to share power and their ranks were overwhelmingly Pashtuns, their rule meant ethnic Pashtuns controlled multi-ethnic Afghanistan, where Pashtuns made up only 42% of the population. [25] At the national level, "all senior Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara bureaucrats" were replaced "with Pashtuns, whether qualified or not. Tajik ( - Tādjīk; UniPers: Tâjik; Cyrillic: Тоҷик is a term generally applied to Persian-speaking people of The Hazāra ( are a Persian-speaking people residing in the central region of Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. As a result of this loss of expertise, the ministries by and large ceased to function. "[26] In local units of government like city councils of Kabul[27] or Herat,[28] Taliban loyalists, not locals, dominated, even when the Pashto-speaking Taliban could not communicate with the local Persian-speaking Afghans (roughly half of the population of Afghanistan spoke Dari or other non-Pashtun tongues. Pashto ( Naskh: پښتو pəʂ'to also rendered as Pakhto, Pushto, Pukhto, Pashtu, Pushtu, also known as )[28] Critics complained this "lack of local representation in urban administration made the Taliban appear as an occupying force. "[29]
Like Wahhabi and other Deobandis, the Taliban strongly opposed the Shia branch of Islam. The Taliban declared the Hazara ethnic group, which totaled almost 10% of Afghanistan's population, "not Muslims. The Hazāra ( are a Persian-speaking people residing in the central region of Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. "[30]
Along with being very strict, the Taliban were adverse to debate on doctrine with other Muslims. "The Taliban did not allow even Muslim reporters to question [their] edicts or to discuss interpretations of the Qur'an. The Qur’an ( القرآن, literally "the recitation" also sometimes transliterated as Qur’ān, Koran, Alcoran "[31]
As they established their power the Taliban created a new form of Islamic radicalism that spread beyond the borders of Afghanistan, mostly to Pakistan. By 1998-1999 Taliban-style groups in the Pashtun belt, and to an extent in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, "were banning TV and videos . . . . and forcing people, particularly women to adapt to the Taliban dress code and way of life. "[32]
Governance
The Taliban did not hold elections, as their spokesman explained:
The Sharia does not allow politics or political parties. Sharia ( Arabic: ar شريعة) is the body of Islamic Religious law. That is why we give no salaries to officials or soldiers, just food, clothes, shoes and weapons. We want to live a life like the Prophet lived 1400 years ago and jihad is our right. Jihad (جهاد ʤɪhæːd an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. We want to recreate the time of the Prophet and we are only carrying out what the Afghan people have wanted for the past 14 years. [33]
Instead of an election, their leader's legitimacy came from "Bay'ah" or oath of allegiance in imitation of the Prophet and early Muslims. Bay'ah ( Arabic: بَيْعَة) literally means to sell, in Islamic terminology it is an Oath of allegiance to a leader On 4 April 1996, Mullah Omar had the "the Cloak of the Prophet Mohammed", taken from its shrine "for the first time in 60 years. Events 1581 - Francis Drake completes a circumnavigation of the world and is knighted by Elizabeth I. Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) " Wrapping himself in the relic, he appeared on the roof of a building in the centre of Kandahar while hundreds of Pashtun mullahs below shouted `Amir al-Mu'minin`! (Commander of the Faithful), in a defacto pledge of support. Amir al-Mu'minin ( Arabic أمير المؤمنين Latinized as Miramolinus hence Italian Miramolino usually translated Commander of the Faithful
Also in keeping with the governance of early Muslims was a lack of state institutions or "a methodology for command and control," standard today internationally even among non-Westernized states. The Taliban didn't issue "press releases, policy statements or hold regular press conferences," and of course the outside world and most Afghans didn't even know what they looked like since photography was banned. [34] Their regular army resembled "a lashkar or traditional tribal militia force" with only 25,000 to 30,000 men, these being added to as the need arose. Cabinet ministers and deputies were mullahs with a "madrassa education. "Madrasa" and "Medrese" redirect here For the village in Azerbaijan see Mədrəsə. " Several of them, such as the Minister of Health and Governor of the State bank, were primarily military commanders who left their administrative posts to fight when needed. If and when military reverses trapped them behind lines or led to their deaths, this created "even greater chaos" in the national administration. [35] In the Ministry of Finance there was no budget or "qualified economist or banker. " Cash to finance Taliban war effort was collected and dispersed by Mullah Omar without book-keeping.
Consistency
The Taliban ideology was not static. Before its capture of Kabul members of the Taliban talked about stepping aside once a government of "good Muslims" took power and law and order were restored. The decision making process of the Taliban in Kandahar was modeled on the Pashtun tribal council (jirga), together with what was believed to be the early Islamic model. A jirga (occasionally jirgah) ( Pashto: جرګه) is a tribal assembly of elders which takes decisions by consensus particularly among the Pashtun Discussion was followed by a building of a consensus by the believers. [36]
However, as the Taliban's power grew, decisions were made by Mullah Omar without consulting the jirga, and without Omar's visiting other parts of the country. He visited the capital, Kabul, only twice while in power.
Decisions are based on the advice of the Amir-ul Momineen. For us consultation is not necessary. We believe that this is in line with the Sharia. We abide by the Amir's view even if he alone takes this view. There will not be a head of state. Instead there will be an Amir al-Mu'minin. Mullah Omar will be the highest authority and the government will not be able to implement any decision to which he does not agree. General elections are incompatible with Sharia and therefore we reject them. [37]
In 1999, Omar issued a decree stating the Buddha statues at Bamyan would be protected because Afghanistan had no Buddhists, implying idolatry would not be a problem. The Buddhas of Bamyan ( - but hay-e bamiyaan) were two monumental statues of standing Buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Idolatry is usually defined as Worship of any Cult image, Idea, or object, as opposed to the worship of a monotheistic God. But in March 2001 they were destroyed after the previous decision was reversed with a decree stating "all the statues around Afghanistan must be destroyed. "[38]
Criticism of ideology
The Taliban were criticized for their strictness toward those who disobeyed the (Bid‘ah) rule. In Islam, bid‘ah ( is any type of Innovation. Though innovations in worldly matters are acceptable to an extent innovation within the religion is seen as a sin Some Muslims complained that many Taliban prohibitions - such as bans on clapping during sports events; kite flying; beard trimming; or sports for women - had no validity in the Qur'an or sharia. The Qur’an ( القرآن, literally "the recitation" also sometimes transliterated as Qur’ān, Koran, Alcoran Sharia ( Arabic: ar شريعة) is the body of Islamic Religious law. Another source of objection was that the Taliban called their 20% tax on truckloads of opium "zakat," when zakat is limited to 2. This is a sub-article of Islamic economical jurisprudence. Zakaat ( زكاة zækæːh zakaat or zakāh, has the implied 5% of the zakat-payers' disposable income. [39]
The bestowing of the title of Amir al-Mu'minin on Muhammad Omar was criticized on the grounds that he lacked scholarly learning, tribal pedigree, or connections to the Prophet's family. Amir al-Mu'minin ( Arabic أمير المؤمنين Latinized as Miramolinus hence Italian Miramolino usually translated Commander of the Faithful Sanction for the title required the support of all of the country's ulema, whereas only some 1200 Pashtun Taliban-supporting Mullahs had declared Omar the Amir. [39] "No Afghan had adopted the title since 1834, when King Dost Mohammed Khan assumed the title before he declared jihad against the Sikh kingdom in Peshawar. Dost Mohammad Khan ( Pashto / Persian: دوست محمد خان) ( December 23, 1793 - June 9, 1863) son of Sardār Sikh (English or; ਸਿੱਖ sikkh, IPA) is the title and name given to an adherent of Sikhism. But Dost Mohammed was fighting foreigners, while Omar had declared jihad against other Afghans. "[40]
Explanation of ideology
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) was important to the Taliban because the "vast majority" of its rank and file and most of the leadership, (though not Mullah Omar), were Koranic students who had studied at madrassas set up for Afghan refugees, usually by the JUI. The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Assembly of Islamic Clergy or JUI is a Political party in Pakistan. Afghan refugees (known as Muhajir Afghans in South Asia) are people who fled Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979 and during the The leader of JUI, Maulana Fazl ur-Rahman, was a political ally of Benazir Bhutto. After Bhutto became prime minister, Rehman "had access to the government, the army and the ISI" whom he influenced to help the Taliban. [41]
Journalist Ahmed Rashid suggests that the devastation and hardship of the war against the Soviet Union and the civil war that followed, was another factor influencing the ideology of the Taliban. Ahmed Rashid (b 1948 in Rawalpindi) is a Pakistani Journalist and best-selling author The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 [42] The young rank and file Taliban were Koranic students in Afghan refugee camps whose teachers were often "barely literate," let alone scholars learned in the finer points of Islamic law and history. The refugee students brought up in a totally male society, not only had no education in mathematics, science, history or geography, they had no traditional skills of farming, herding or handicraft-making, nor even knowledge of their tribal and clan lineages. [42]
In such an environment peace meant unemployment, and domination of women was an affirmation of manhood. Rigid fundamentalism was a matter of political survival, not just principle, Taliban leaders "repeatedly told" Rashid "that if they gave women greater freedom or a chance to go to school, they would lose the support of their rank and file. "[43]
Life under the Taliban regime
Sharia law was interpreted to ban a wide variety of activities hitherto lawful in Afghanistan: employment and education for women, movies, television, videos, music, dancing, hanging pictures in homes, clapping during sports events. One Taliban list of prohibitions included:
pork, pig, pig oil, anything made from human hair, satellite dishes, cinematography, and equipment that produces the joy of music, pool tables, chess, masks, alcohol, tapes, computers, VCRs, television, anything that propagates sex and is full of music, wine, lobster, nail polish, firecrackers, statues, sewing catalogs, pictures, Christmas cards. "[44]
Men were required to have a beard extending farther than a fist clamped at the base of the chin. On the other hand, they had to wear their head hair short. Men were also required to wear a head covering. [45]
Possession was forbidden of depictions of living things, including photographs of them, stuffed animals, and dolls. [45]
Rules which according to some Muslims had no validity in the Qur'an or sharia included a ban on clapping during sports events, kite flying, beard trimming, and sports for women. The Qur’an ( القرآن, literally "the recitation" also sometimes transliterated as Qur’ān, Koran, Alcoran Sharia ( Arabic: ar شريعة) is the body of Islamic Religious law. A kite is a flying tethered object that depends upon the tension of a tethering system
These rules were issued by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Suppression of Vice (PVSV) and enforced by its "religious police", a concept thought to be borrowed from the Wahhabis. The Mutaween (مطوعين muṭawiʿiyn; variant English spellings mutawwain muttawa mutawallees mutawa’ah mutawi’ mutawwa' means "volunteer" in Arabic In newly conquered towns hundreds of religious police beat offenders — typically men who shaved and women who were not wearing their burqa properly — with long sticks. [46]
Theft was punished by the amputation of a hand, rape and murder by public execution. Married adulterers were stoned to death. In Kabul, punishments were carried out in front of crowds in the city's former soccer stadium. A modern stadium (plural stadiums or stadia in English is a place or venue for (mostly outdoor Sports Concerts or other events consisting
Treatment of women
Women in particular were targets of the Taliban's restrictions. They were prohibited from working; from wearing clothing regarded as "stimulating and attractive," including the "Iranian chador," (viewed as insufficiently complete in its covering); from taking a taxi without a "close male relative"; washing clothes in streams; or having their measurements taken by tailors. A chador or chadar ( Persian چادر) from Sanskrit chattram) is an outer Garment or open Cloak worn by [47]
Employment for women was restricted to the medical sector, since male medical personnel were not allowed to examine women. One result of the banning of employment of women by the Taliban was the closing down in places like Kabul of primary schools not only for girls but for boys, because almost all the teachers there were women. [48]
Women were also not permitted to attend co-educational schools; in practice, this prevented the vast majority of young women and girls in Afghanistan from receiving even a primary education. Primary education is the first stage of Compulsory education.
Women were made to wear the burqa, a traditional dress covering the entire body except for a small screen to see out of. A burqa (also Transliterated burkha, burka or burqua) is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic traditions for the Taliban restrictions became more severe after they took control of the capital. In February 1998, religious police forced all women off the streets of Kabul and issued new regulations ordering "householders to blacken their windows, so women would not be visible from the outside. "[49] Home schools for girls, which had been allowed to continue, were forbidden. [50] In June 1998, the Taliban stopped all women from attending general hospitals,[51] leaving the use of one all-women hospital in Kabul. There were many reports of Muslim women being beaten by the Taliban for violating the Sharia. Sharia ( Arabic: ar شريعة) is the body of Islamic Religious law.
Prohibitions on culture
Movie theaters were closed and music banned. Cinemaaustraliajpg|thumb|A movie theater in Australia ]]A movie theater, movie theatre, picture theatre or cinema is a venue Hundreds of cultural artifacts that were deemed polytheistic were also destroyed including major museum and countless private art collections. Polytheism is belief in or worship of multiple Gods (usually assembled in a pantheon) together with associated Mythology and Rituals
A sample Taliban edict issued after their capture of Kabul is one decreed in December 1996 by the "General Presidency of Amr Bil Maruf and Nahi Anil Munkar" (or Religious Police) banning a variety of things and activities: music, shaving of beards, keeping of pigeons, flying kites, displaying of pictures or portraits, western hairstyles, music and dancing at weddings, gambling, "sorcery," and not praying at prayer times. [47] In February 2001, Taliban used sledgehammers to destroy representational works of art at the National Museum of Afghanistan. February 2001: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September [52]
Non-Western festivities were not exempt from bannings. The Taliban banned the traditional Afghan New Year's celebration of Nowruz as anti-Islamic, and "for a time they also banned Ashura, the Shia Islamic month of mourning and even restricted any show of festivity at Eid. Nowrūz ( /noruz/ ↔, (English New Day various local pronunciations and spellings) is the traditional Iranian New year Holiday celebrated The Day of Ashura ( ar عاشوراء, Ashura Ashoura and other spellings is on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar and marks the climax "[53] The Afghan people were not allowed to have any cultural celebrations if the women were there. If there were only men at the celebration it would be allowed to go forth, so long as it did not go over the curfew time of 9:00 pm.
Taliban official Mullah Mohammed Hassan explained that "of course we realize that people need some entertainment but they can go to the parks and see the flowers, and from this they will learn about Islam. " The Education Minister Mullahs Abdul Hanifi told questioners that the Taliban "oppose music because it creates a strain in the mind and hampers study of Islam. "[53]
Ethnic massacres and persecution
The worst attack on civilians came in summer of 1998 when the Taliban swept north from Herat to the predominantly Hazara and Uzbek city of Mazar-i-Sharif, the largest city in the north. area3018 sq mi Herāt ( classically called the Aria, is a city in western Afghanistan, in the province also known as Herāt. Mazār-e Sharīf ( is the fourth largest city of Afghanistan, with population of 300600 people (2006 estimate Entering at 10 am on 8 August 1998, for the next two days the Taliban drove their pickup trucks "up and down the narrow streets of Mazar-i-Sharif shooting to the left and right and killing everything that moved — shop owners, cart pullers, women and children shoppers and even goats and donkeys. "[54] More than 8000 noncombatants were reported killed in Mazar-i-Sharif and later in Bamiyan. [55] Contrary to the injunctions of Islam, which demands immediate burial, the Taliban forbade anyone to bury the corpses for the first six days while they rotted in the summer heat and were eaten by dogs. [56] In addition to this indiscriminate slaughter, the Taliban sought out and massacred members of the Hazara, a mostly Shia ethnic group, while in control of Mazar. The Hazāra ( are a Persian-speaking people residing in the central region of Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan.
While the slaughter can be attributed to several factors — ethnic difference, suspicions of Hazaras loyalty to their co-religionists in Iran, fury at the loss of life suffered in an earlier unsuccessful Taliban takeover of Mazar — takfir by the puritanical Sunni Taliban toward the Shia Hazaras was instrumental. For the Salafist extremist group see Takfir wal-Hijra In Shia terminology "takfir" Sunni Islam is the largest denomination of Islam. Sunni Islam is also referred to as Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘h (Arabic It was expressed by Mullah Niazi, the commander of the attack and governor of Mazar after the attack, in his declaration from Mazar's central mosque:
"Last year you rebelled against us and killed us. From all your homes you shot at us. Now we are here to deal with you. The Hazaras are not Muslims and now have to kill Hazaras. You either accept to be Muslims or leave Afghanistan. Wherever you go we will catch you. If you go up we will pull you down by your feet; if you hide below, we will pull you up by your hair. ";[30]
Hazara also suffered from a siege by the Taliban of their Hazarajat homeland in central Afghanistan and the refusal of the Taliban to allow the UN to supply food to Hazara to the provinces of Bamiyan, Ghor, Wardak and Ghazni. [57] A month after the Mazar slaughter, Taliban broke through Hazar lines and took over Hazarajat. The killing of civilians was much less common there than in Mazar, but occurred nevertheless. [58]
During the years that followed, rapes and massacres of Hazara by Taliban forces were documented by groups such as Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch is a United States -based international Non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on Human rights. [59]
Economy
Peace did bring economic development to Afghanistan. The so-called "transportation mafia" operating out of Pakistan "cut down millions of acres of timber in Afghanistan for the Pakistani market, denuding the countryside as there was no reforestation. They stripped down rusting factories, . . . even electricity and telephone poles for their steel and sold the scrap to steel mills in Lahore. "[60]
Conscription
According to the testimony of Guantanamo captives before their Combatant Status Review Tribunals, the Taliban, in addition to conscripting men to serve as soldiers, also conscripted literate and numerate men to staff its civil service. During the Taliban administration of Afghanistan (1996-2001 there was an extensive varied conscription program The Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp is a controversial United States Detention center operated by Joint Task Force Guantanamo since 2002 in Guantanamo The Combatant Status Review Tribunals ( CSRT) are a set of Tribunals purposed to determine whether Detainees held by the United See also Bureaucrat The term civil service has two distinct meanings Branch of governmental service in which individuals are hired on the basis Ironically, given the derivation of their name for themselves, some of the Taliban leaders were illiterate.
War with the Northern Alliance
Taliban's strict policies and condescending behavior toward their local allied troops caused an uprising in which thousands of the Taliban's best troops were killed.
In 1997, Ahmad Shah Massoud devised a plan to utilize guerrilla tactics in the Shamali plains to defeat the Taliban advances. Ahmad Shah Massoud ( (2 September 1953 &ndash 9 September 2001 was a Tajik Kabul University engineering student turned military leader who played a leading Guerrilla warfare is the unconventional warfare and combat with which a small group of combatants use mobile tactics (ambushes raids etc In collaboration with the locals, Masoud had deployed his forces to be stationed at civilian dwellings and other hidden places. A civilian under International humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her Country 's Armed forces. Upon the arrival of the Taliban, some locals, who had vowed pacts of peace with the Taliban, as well as Masoud's forces came out of hiding and in a surprise attack captured the north of Kabul. Soon after, the Taliban put a major effort into taking control of the Shamali plains, indiscriminately killing young men, uprooting and expelling the population. Kamal Hossein, a special reporter for the UN, had written a full report on these and other war crimes that further insinuated and inflamed the issue of ethnicity. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war" including but not limited to "murder the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied
In August 8, 1998 the Taliban again took Mazar-i-Sharif this time avenging their earlier defeat and creating more international controversy with mass killings of thousands of civilians and several Iranian diplomats. Events 1220 - Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula. Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) Mazār-e Sharīf ( is the fourth largest city of Afghanistan, with population of 300600 people (2006 estimate This offensive left the Northern Alliance in control of only a small part of Afghanistan (10-15%) in the north. The Taliban retained control of most of the country until the 2001 9/11 attacks. On September 9, 2001, a suicide bomber, posing as an interviewer and widely thought to be connected to Al-Qaeda, assassinated the Northern Alliance mujahideen military leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. Events 1000 - Battle of Svolder, Viking Age. 1379 - Treaty of Neuberg, splitting the Austrian Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Ahmad Shah Massoud ( (2 September 1953 &ndash 9 September 2001 was a Tajik Kabul University engineering student turned military leader who played a leading A Mujahid (Arabic ar مجاهد, literally "struggler" is a Muslim involved in a Jihad, id est fighting in a war or Ahmad Shah Massoud ( (2 September 1953 &ndash 9 September 2001 was a Tajik Kabul University engineering student turned military leader who played a leading Despite his removal, the Taliban were driven from most of Afghanistan by American bombing and Northern Alliance ground troops a couple of months later in the 2001 War. The War in Afghanistan, which began on October 7 2001 as the U
International relations
During its time in power, the Taliban regime, or "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," gained diplomatic recognition from only three states: the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia all of whom also provided aid. The War in Afghanistan, which began on October 7 2001 as the U Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was the name given to the nation of Afghanistan by the Taliban during their rule from 1996 to 2001 Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral political act with domestic and international legal consequences whereby a state acknowledges an act Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KSA ( المملكة العربية السعودية, al-Mamlaka al-ʻArabiyya as-Suʻūdiyya) or Suudi Most states in the world, including Russia, Iran, India, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and later the USA, opposed the Taliban and aided their enemy the Northern Alliance. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi or Ўзбекистон Республикаси is a doubly Kyrgyzstan (ˈkɻ̩gɪztɑn (AmE or /'kɝgəztan/ (BrE Kyrgyz: Кыргызстан; Russian: Киргизия or Киргизстан or Кыргызстан Tajikistan (təˈdʒɪkɨstæn or /təˈdʒiːkɨstæn/ Тоҷикистон tɔʤikɪsˈtɔn or, Persian تاجیکستان taajikestaan officially the Republic of The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( UIF, Jabha-yi Muttahid-i Islami-yi Milli bara-yi Nijat-i Afghanistan) also known as the Northern
Officially Pakistan denied it was supporting the Taliban, but its support was substantial -- one year's aid (1997/1998) was an estimated US$30 million in wheat, diesel, petroleum and kerosene fuel, and other supplies. [61] The Taliban's influence in its neighbour Pakistan was deep. Its "unprecedented access" among Pakistan's lobbies and interest groups enabled it "to play off one lobby against another and extend their influence in Pakistan even further. At times they would defy" even the powerful ISI. [62]
Foreign powers, including the United States, were at first supportive of the Taliban in hopes it would serve as a force to restore order in Afghanistan after years of division into corrupt, lawless warlord fiefdoms. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The U. S. government, for example, made no comment when the Taliban captured Herat in 1995 and expelled thousands of girls from schools. [63] These hopes faded as it began to be engaged in warlord practices of rocketing unarmed civilians, targeting ethnic groups (primarily Hazaras) and restricting the rights of women. [64] In late 1997, American Secretary of State Madeleine Albright began to distance the U. Madeleine Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Korbelová on May 15, 1937) was the first woman to become United States Secretary of State. S. from the Taliban and the next year the American-based Unocal oil company withdrew from a major deal with the Taliban regime concerning an oil pipeline. Union Oil Company of California dba Unocal is a defunct company that was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century through the 20th century and into the early
In early August of 1998 the Taliban's difficulties in relations with foreign groups became much more serious. After attacking the city of Mazar, Taliban forces killed several thousand civilians and 10 Iranian diplomats and intelligence officers in the Iranian consulate. Alleged radio intercepts indicate Mullah Omar personally approved the killings. [65] The Iranian government was incensed and a "full-blown regional crisis" ensued with Iran mobilizing 200,000 regular troops,[66] though war was averted.
A day before the capture of Mazar, affiliates of Taliban guest Osama bin Laden bombed two U.S. embassies in Africa killing 224 and wounding 4500 mostly African victims. Osama bin Laden, with some spelling variations is the name used in English to refer to (أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن born 10 March In the 1998 US Embassy bombings ( August 7, 1998) hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous Car bomb explosions at the United States The United States responded by launching cruise missiles attacks on suspected terrorists camps in Afghanistan killing over 20 though failing to kill bin Laden or even many al-Qaeda. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Mullah Omar condemned the missile attack and American President Bill Clinton. William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III, August 19 1946 served as the forty-second President of the United States [67] Saudi Arabia expelled the Taliban envoy in Saudi Arabia in protest over the Taliban's refusal to turn over bin Laden and after Mullah Omar allegedly insulted the Saudi royal family. [68] In mid-October the UN Security Council voted unanimously to ban commercial aircraft flights to and from Afghanistan and freeze its bank accounts world wide. [69]
The regime's isolation grew in March 2001 with the destruction of Afghanistan's most significant archeological treasures, the 1500-year-old giant Buddha statues, (the two largest were 55 and 37 meters high) in Bamiyan. The Buddhas of Bamyan ( - but hay-e bamiyaan) were two monumental statues of standing Buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley That month the Taliban also issued a decree ordering non-Muslims to wear distinctive yellow patches.
Relations with the United Nations and aid agencies
A major issue during the Taliban's reign was its relations with the United Nations (UN) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security Twenty years of continuous warfare, first with the Soviets and then between mujahideen, had devastated Afghanistan's infrastructure and economy. Infrastructure typically refers to the technical structures that support a society such as Roads Water supply, Wastewater, Power grids There was no running water, little electricity, few telephones, motorable roads or regular energy supplies. Basic necessities like water, food and housing and others were in desperately short supply. In addition, the clan and family structure that provided Afghans with a social/economic safety net was also badly damaged. A clan is a group of People united by Kinship and descent, which is defined by perceived descent from a common ancestor [31][70] Afghanistan's infant mortality was the highest in the world. A full quarter of all children died before they reached their fifth birthday, a rate several times higher than most other developing countries. [71]
Consequently international charitable and/or development organisations (NGOs) were extremely important to the supply of food, employment, reconstruction, and other services in Afghanistan. With one million plus deaths during the years of war, the number of families headed by widows had reached 98,000 by 1998. [72] Thus Taliban restrictions on women were sometime a matter not only of human rights, but of life and death. Human rights refers to the "basic Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled In Kabul, where vast portions of the city had been devastated from rocket attacks, more than half of its 1. 2 million people benefited in some way from NGO charity, even for water to drink. [73] The civil war and its refugee-creation processes continued during the entire time the Taliban were in power. During that time, more than three-quarters of a million civilians were displaced by new Taliban offensives in the north around Mazar, on the Herat front, and in the fertile Shomali valley around Kabul. The offensives used "scorched-earth" tactics to prevent civilians from supplying the enemy with aid. [74]
Despite the receipt of UN and NGO aid, the Taliban's attitude toward the UN and NGOs was often one of suspicion, not gratitude or even tolerance. The UN operates on the basis of international law, not Islamic Sharia, and the UN did not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. International law is the term commonly used for referring to the system of implicit and explicit agreements that bind together nation-states in adherence to recognized values and standards Sharia ( Arabic: ar شريعة) is the body of Islamic Religious law. Additionally, most of the foreign donors and aid workers, who had tried to persuade the Taliban to change its strict policies and allow women more freedom, were non-Muslims.
As the Taliban's Attorney General Maulvi Jalil-ullah Maulvizada expressed it:
Let us state what sort of education the UN wants. This is a big infidel policy which gives such obscene freedom to women which would lead to adultery and herald the destruction of Islam. In any Islamic country where adultery becomes common, that country is destroyed and enters the domination of the infidels because their men become like women and women cannot defend themselves. Anyone who talks to us should do so within Islam's framework. The Holy Koran cannot adjust itself to other people's requirements, people should adjust themselves to the requirements of the Holy Koran. [75]
Frustrations of aid agencies were numerous. Taliban decision-makers, particularly Mullah Omar, seldom if ever talked directly to non-Muslim foreigners, so aid providers had to deal with intermediaries whose approvals and agreements were often reversed by Taliban higher-ups. [76] In September 1997, the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Emma Bonino, and 19 Western journalists and aid workers were arrested and held for three hours by the Taliban religious police in Kabul when photographs were taken of women patients. [77] Around the same time the heads of three UN agencies in Kandahar were expelled from the country after protesting that a female lawyer for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was forced to talk to Taliban officials from behind a curtain so her face would not be visible. [78]
When the UN increased the number of Muslim women staff to satisfy Taliban demands for Muslim staff, the Taliban then insisted "all female Muslim UN staff traveling to Afghanistan to be chaperoned by a mahram or a blood relative. In Islamic Sharia legal terminology a mahram ( Arabic محرم also Transliterated mahrim or maharem) is an "[51] In July 20, 1998, the Taliban closed "down all NGO offices by force" after those organization refused to move to a bombed out former Polytechnic College as ordered. Events 1304 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle - King Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) [79] One month later the UN offices were also shut down. [80]
As food prices rose and conditions deteriorated, the Taliban Planning Minister Qari Din Mohammed explained the Taliban's indifference to the loss of humanitarian aid:
We Muslims believe God the Almighty will feed everybody one way or another. If the foreign NGOs leave then it is their decision. We have not expelled them. [81]
Relationship with Osama bin Laden
In 1996, Osama bin Laden moved to Afghanistan from Sudan. Osama bin Laden, with some spelling variations is the name used in English to refer to (أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن born 10 March Sudan (officially the Republic of Sudan) ( السودان al-Sūdān is a country in northeastern Africa. He came without any invitation from the Taliban, and sometimes irritated Mullah Omar with his declaration of war and fatwa to murder citizens of third-party countries, and follow-up interviews,[82] but relations between the two groups became closer over time, and eventually bonded to the point where Mullah Omar rebuffed its patron Saudi Arabia, insulting Saudi minister Prince Turki and refusing to turn over bin Laden to the Saudis as Omar had reportedly promised to earlier. Turki bin Faisal Al Saud (born February 15, 1945) most commonly referenced as Turki al Faisal is the former Director General of Saudi Arabia's [83]
Bin Laden was able to forge an alliance between the Taliban and his Al-Qaeda organization. A military alliance is an agreement between two or more military factions related to Wartime planning commitments or contingencies such agreements can be both Al-Qaeda, alternatively spelled al-Qaida, al-Qa`ida or al-Qa`idah, ( Arabic:; ar-Latn ''al-qāʿidah'' Translation: The It is understood that al-Qaeda-trained fighters known as the 055 Brigade were integrated with the Taliban army between 1997 and 2001. Several hundred Arab Afghan fighters sent by bin Laden assisted the Taliban in the slaughter at Mazar-e-Sharif. [84] Taliban-al-Qaeda connections, were also strengthened by the reported marriage of one of bin Laden's sons to Omar's daughter. During Osama bin Laden's stay in Afghanistan, he may have helped finance the Taliban. [85] [86] Perhaps the biggest favor al-Qaeda did for the Taliban was the assassination by suicide bombing[52] of the Taliban's most effective military opponent mujahideen commander and Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud shortly before September 9, 2001. A Mujahid (Arabic ar مجاهد, literally "struggler" is a Muslim involved in a Jihad, id est fighting in a war or Ahmad Shah Massoud ( (2 September 1953 &ndash 9 September 2001 was a Tajik Kabul University engineering student turned military leader who played a leading This came at a time when Taliban human rights violations and extremism seemed likely to create international support for Massoud's group as the legitimate representatives of Afghanistan. [52] The killing, reportedly handled by Ayman Zawahiri and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad wing of al-Qaeda, left the Northern Alliance leaderless, and removed "the last obstacle to the Taliban’s total control of the country . The Egyptian Islamic Jihad ( الجهاد الإسلامي المصري) ( EIJ) formerly called simply Islamic Jihad ( الجهاد . . "[87]
After the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, Osama bin Laden and several al Qaeda members were indicted in U. In the 1998 US Embassy bombings ( August 7, 1998) hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous Car bomb explosions at the United States The Federal Bureau of Investigation 's " Most Wanted Terrorists " is a list of Fugitives who have been indicted by sitting Federal Grand Juries S. criminal court. [88] The Taliban protected Osama bin Laden from extradition requests by the U. Extradition is the official process by which one nation or state requests and obtains from another nation or state the surrender of a suspected or convicted criminal S. , variously claiming that bin Laden had "gone missing" in Afghanistan,[89] or that Washington "cannot provide any evidence or any proof" that bin Laden is involved in terrorist activities and that "without any evidence, bin Laden is a man without sin. Evidence in its broadest sense includes anything that is used to determine or demonstrate the Truth of an assertion Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion . . he is a free man. "[90][91] Evidence against bin Laden included courtroom testimony and satellite phone records. "Testify" redirects here For other uses see Testify (disambiguation and Testimony (disambiguation. A satellite telephone, satellite phone, or satphone is a type of Mobile phone that connects to orbiting Satellites instead of terrestrial [92][93] Bin Laden in turn, praised the Taliban as the "only Islamic government" in existence, and lauded Mullah Omar for his destruction of idols like the Buddhas of Bamiyan. The Buddhas of Bamyan ( - but hay-e bamiyaan) were two monumental statues of standing Buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley [94]
Taliban in Pakistan
- See also: 2004-2006 Waziristan conflict and Wana conflict
Closely tied with JUI party in Pakistan, the Taliban received manpower from Madrasahs in Pakistan’s border region. The Islamic Emirate of Waziristan (اسلامی امارات وزیرستان also known as the Islamic Republic of Waziristan, is a rebel organization in Waziristan The War in North-West Pakistan is an armed conflict between the Pakistani Army and Islamist militants made up by local tribesmen the Taliban and foreign extremists In March 2004 heavy fighting broke out at Azam Warsak near the South Waziristan town of Wana, where Pakistani government troops faced an estimated 400 militants After a request for help from Mullah Omar in 1997, Maulana Samiul Haq shut down his 2500+ student madrassa and "sent his entire student" body hundreds of miles away to fight alongside the Taliban. The next year, the same religious leader helped persuade 12 madrassas in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province to shut down for one month and send 8000 students to provide reinforcements for the Taliban army in Afghanistan. The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP ( Urdu: śimāl maġribī sarhadī sūba) is the smallest of the four main provinces of Pakistan. [95]
The Taliban returned the favor, helping spread its ideology to parts of Pakistan. By 1998 some groups "along the Pashtun belt" were banning TV and videos, imposing Sharia punishments "such as stoning and amputation in defiance of the legal system, killing Pakistani Shia and forcing people, particularly women to adapt to the Taliban dress code and way of life. "[96] In December 1998 the Tehrik-i-Tuleba or Movement of Taliban in the Orakzai Agency ignored Pakistan’s legal process and publicly executed a murderer in front of 2000 spectators Taliban-style. They also promised to implement Taliban-style justice and ban TV, music and videos. [97] In Quetta, Pashtun pro-Taliban groups "burned down cinema houses, shot video shop owners, smashed satellite dishes and drove women off the streets". [98] In Kashmir Afghan Arabs from Afghanistan attempted to impose a "Wahhabi style dress code" banning jeans and jackets. "On 15 February 1999, they shot and wounded three Kashmiri cable television operators for relaying Western satellite broadcasts. "[99]
As of early 2007, Taliban influence in Pakistan continues in conjunction with the Taliban insurgency. The Taliban insurgency took root shortly after the group's fall from power following the 2001 war in Afghanistan. Citing a suicide bombing of a restaurant in Peshwar in retaliation for the arrest of a relative of Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah, the Associated Press states ". Mullah Dadullah or Dadullah Akhund ( ملا دادالله آخوند) (c . . in Pakistan's frontier regions, . . . scores of people have been executed over the past two or three years apparently for being too aligned with the Pakistani government or America — allies in the U. S. -led war on terrorism. "[100]
Buddhas of Bamiyan
In March 2001, the Taliban ordered the demolition of two statues of Buddhas carved into cliffsides at Bamiyan, one 38 metres (125 ft) tall and built in CE 507, the other 53 metres (174 ft) tall and built in CE 554. Buddharūpa (बुद्धरूप literally 'Form of the Awakened One' is the Sanskrit and Pali term used in Buddhism for statues or models of the The Buddhas of Bamyan ( - but hay-e bamiyaan) were two monumental statues of standing Buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit The act was condemned by UNESCO and many countries around the world. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on November 16
The intentions of the destruction remain unclear. Mullah Omar initially supported the preservation of Afghanistan's heritage, and Japan linked financial aid to the preservation of the statues. Cultural heritage ("national heritage" or just "heritage" is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or Society For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. [101] However, after a few years, a decree was issued claiming all representations of humans and idols, including those in museums, must be destroyed in accordance with Islamic law which prohibits any form of idol worship. A decree is an order made by a Head of state or government and having the force of Law.
The government of Pakistan (itself host to one of the richest and most ancient collections of Buddhist art) implored the Taliban to spare the statues. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates later denounced the act as savage.
Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, a senior representative of the Taliban designated as the roving Ambassador visited the US in March, 2001. Sayed Rahmatullah Hashmi is a former envoy of the Taliban government in Afghanistan. An ambassador is the highest ranking Diplomat who represents their country He represented the Taliban's action not as an act of irrationality, but as an act of rage over UNESCO and some western governments denying the Taliban use of the funds intended for the repairs of the war-damaged statues of the Buddha. He contended that the Taliban intended to use the money for drought relief.
Opium
Opium poppies have traditionally been grown in Afghanistan, and, with the war shattering other sectors of the economy, it became the number one export of the country. The opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the type of Poppy from which Opium and many refined opiates such as Morphine, Thebaine An economy is the realized social system of production exchange distribution and consumption of goods and services of a country or other area
The Taliban have provided an Islamic sanction for farmers . . . to grow even more opium, even though the Koran forbids Muslims from producing or imbibing intoxicants. Abdul Rashid, the head of the Taliban's anti-drugs control force in Kandahar, spelled out the nature of his unique job. He is authorized to impose a strict ban on the growing of hashish, "because it is consumed by Afghans and Muslims. Hashish (from Arabic: ar حشيش, lit "grass" also hash) is a preparation of cannabis composed of the compressed " But, Rashid told me without a hint of sarcasm, "Opium is permissible because it is consumed by kafirs in the West and not by Muslims or Afghans. "[102]
But in 2000 the Taliban banned opium production, a first in Afghan history. In 2000, Afghanistan's opium production still accounted for 75% of the world's supply. On July 27, 2000, the Taliban again issued a decree banning opium poppy cultivation. Events 1214 - Battle of Bouvines: In France, Philip II of France defeats John of England. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. The opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is the type of Poppy from which Opium and many refined opiates such as Morphine, Thebaine According to opioids.com, by February 2001, production had been reduced from 12,600 acres (51 km²) to only 17 acres. [103] When the Taliban entered north Waziristan in 2003 they immediately banned poppy cultivation and punished those who sold it. The Islamic Emirate of Waziristan (اسلامی امارات وزیرستان also known as the Islamic Republic of Waziristan, is a rebel organization in Waziristan
Another source claims opium production was cut back by the Taliban not to prevent its use but to shore up its price, and thus increase the income of poppy farmers and revenue of Afghan tax collectors. [104]
The official verdict of the Taliban however was otherwise. Mullah Amir Mohammed Haqqani, the Taliban's top drug official in Nangarhar, said the ban would remain regardless of whether the Taliban received aid or international recognition. "It is our decree that there will be no poppy cultivation. It is banned forever in this country," he said. "Whether we get assistance or not, poppy growing will never be allowed again in our country. "[105]
However, with the 2001 US/Northern Alliance expulsion of the Taliban, opium cultivation has increased in the southern provinces liberated from the Taliban control,[106] and by 2005 production was 87% of the world's opium supply,[107] rising to 90% in 2006. [108]
U. S. -led invasion and displacement of the Taliban
Prelude to invasion
After the September 11 attacks and the PENTTBOM investigation, the USA delivered this ultimatum to the Taliban:
- Deliver to the US all of the leaders of Al Qaeda;
- Release all imprisoned foreign nationals;
- Close immediately every terrorist training camp;
- Hand over every terrorist and their supporters to appropriate authorities;
- Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps for inspection. PENTTBOM is the codename for the Federal Bureau of Investigation 's probe into the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks An ultimatum (the last one is a Demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a threat to be followed through in case [109]
On September 21, 2001, the Taliban responded that if the United States could bring evidence that bin Laden was guilty they would hand him over, stating there was no evidence in their possession linking him to the September 11 attacks. Events 1217 - The Estonian tribal leader Lembitu of Lehola was killed in a battle against Teutonic Knights. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. [91]
On September 22, 2001, the United Arab Emirates and later Saudi Arabia withdrew their recognition of the Taliban as the legal government of Afghanistan, leaving neighboring Pakistan as the only remaining country with diplomatic ties. Events 66 - Emperor Nero creates the Legion I Italica. 1236 - The Lithuanians Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. On October 4, 2001, it is believed that the Taliban covertly offered to turn bin Laden over to Pakistan for trial in an international tribunal that operated according to Islamic Sharia law. Events 610 - Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Tribunal is a generic term for any body acting judicially whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title Sharia ( Arabic: ar شريعة) is the body of Islamic Religious law. [110][111] Pakistan, recently recast as an ally of the west, is believed to have rejected the offer (even though they still recognized the Taliban).
On October 7, 2001, before the onset of military operations, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan offered to "detain bin Laden and try him under Islamic law" if the United States made a formal request and presented the Taliban with evidence. Events 3761 BC - The epoch (origin of the modern Hebrew calendar ( Proleptic Julian calendar) Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. [112] This counter offer was immediately rejected by the U. S. as insufficient.
Bin Laden for his part, maintained America's attack on the Taliban after 9/11 was motivated only by its hatred for Islam. [113]
American attack
Shortly afterward, on October 7, 2001, the United States, aided by the United Kingdom, Canada, and supported by a coalition of other countries including several from the NATO alliance, initiated military actions in Afghanistan, and bombed Taliban and Al Qaeda related camps. Events 3761 BC - The epoch (origin of the modern Hebrew calendar ( Proleptic Julian calendar) Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The North Atlantic Treaty [114][115] The stated intent of military operations was to remove the Taliban from power because of the Taliban's refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden for his alleged involvement in the September 11 attacks, and disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations. Osama bin Laden, with some spelling variations is the name used in English to refer to (أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن born 10 March [116] No proof of Bin Laden' involvement was provided to the Taliban Government. On October 14 the Taliban offered to discuss handing over Osama bin Laden to a neutral country if the US halted bombing, but only if the Taliban were given evidence of Bin Laden's involvement in 9/11. Events 1066 - Norman Conquest: Battle of Hastings - In England on Senlac Hill seven miles from Hastings, the forces [117] The U. S. rejected this offer as an insufficient public relations ploy and continued military operations.
The ground war was mainly fought by the Northern Alliance, the remaining elements of the anti-Taliban forces which the Taliban had routed over the previous years but had never been able to entirely destroy. Mazari Sharif fell to U. S. -Northern Alliance forces on November 9, leading to a cascade of provinces falling with minimal resistance, and many local forces switching loyalties from the Taliban to the Northern Alliance. Events 694 - Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims sentencing all On the night of November 12, the Taliban retreated south in an orderly fashion from Kabul. Events 764 - Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days This retreat was so orderly, that on November 15, they released eight Western aid workers after three months in captivity (see Attacks on humanitarian workers). Events 655 - Battle of Winwaed: Penda of Mercia is defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria. Humanitarian aid (also called succour) is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes typically in response to humanitarian crises Humanitarian Aid workers belonging to UN organisations PVOs / NGOs or the Red Cross / Red Crescent have traditionally enjoyed both international By November 13 the Taliban had withdrawn from both Kabul and Jalalabad. Events 1002 - English king Ethelred orders the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St } Kābul ( Persian and Pashto: کابل, IPA:) is the Capital and largest city of Afghanistan, with Jalalabad (Jalalkot ( Pashto: جلالکوټ، جلال اباد) is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Finally, in early December, the Taliban gave up their last city stronghold of Kandahar and retired to the hilly wilderness along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where they remain today as a guerrilla warfare operation, drawing new recruits and developing plans for a restoration of power. A stronghold is a strongly fortified defensive structureThe history of fortified buildings extends from antiquity to modern times For the 2001 film see Kandahar (film; for the Kandahar meteorite of 1959 see Meteorite falls; for the places in Azerbaijan see Cəndəhar and
Resurgence of Taliban
As of 2007, the insurgency, in the form of a Taliban guerrilla war, continues. An insurgency is a violent internal uprising against a sovereign government that lacks the organization of a revolution However, the Pashtun tribal group, with over 40 million members, has a long history of resistance to occupation forces in the region so the Taliban themselves may comprise only a part of the insurgency. A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally consists of a Social group existing before the development of or outside of States Many anthropologists use Pashtuns ( Pashto: پښتون Paṣtūn, Paxtūn, also rendered as Pushtuns, Pakhtuns, Pukhtuns) also called Most of the post-invasion Taliban fighters are new recruits, drawn again from that region's madrassas. The more traditional village schools are the primary source of the new fighters.
Before the summer 2006 offensive began, indications existed that Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan had lost influence and power to other groups, including potentially the Taliban. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The most notable sign was the rioting in May after a street accident in the city of Kabul. Riots are a form of Civil disorders characterized by disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of Violence, Vandalism or other } Kābul ( Persian and Pashto: کابل, IPA:) is the Capital and largest city of Afghanistan, with The continued support from tribal and other groups in Pakistan, the drug trade and the small number of NATO forces, combined with the long history of resistance and isolation, led to the observation that Taliban forces and leaders are surviving and will have some influence over the future of Afghanistan. The North Atlantic Treaty A new introduction is suicide attacks and terrorist methods not used in 2001. This article is about suicide attacks for political and/or military reasons Observers[118] have suggested that poppy eradication policies, which destroy the livelihoods of rural Afghans, and civilian deaths caused by the bombing campaigns of international troops, are linked to the resurgence of the Taliban. These observers maintain that counter-insurgency policy should focus on the battle for the hearts and minds of the Afghan people and on the reconstruction of the Afghan economy, which could profit from the licensing of poppies to make medicine rather than their eradication. [119]
In September 2006, the Islamic Emirate of Waziristan, an association of Waziristani chieftains with close ties to the Taliban, were recognized by the Government of Pakistan as the de facto security force in charge of North and South Waziristan. The Islamic Emirate of Waziristan (اسلامی امارات وزیرستان also known as the Islamic Republic of Waziristan, is a rebel organization in Waziristan The Government of Pakistan ( Urdu: حکومتِ پاکستان uses a federal parliamentary system with a President as the Head of State and an indirectly-elected North Waziristan ( Urdu: شمالی وزیرستان is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan South Waziristan ( Pashto: جنوبی وزیرستان is the southern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan This recognition was part of the agreement to end the Waziristan War which had extracted a heavy toll on the Pakistan Army since early 2004. The War in North-West Pakistan is an armed conflict between the Pakistani Army and Islamist militants made up by local tribesmen the Taliban and foreign extremists The Pakistan Army ( Urdu:) is the largest branch of the Pakistan military, and is mainly responsible for protection of the state borders the security of administered Some commentators viewed Islamabad's shift from war to diplomacy as implicit recognition of the growing power of the resurgent Taliban relative to American influence, with the US distracted by the threat of looming crises in Iraq, Lebanon, and Iran. |name = Islamabad|native_name = |nickname = |settlement_type = Capital City |total_type
Other commentators view Islamabad's shift from war to diplomacy as a means to appease growing discontent in Pakistan. |name = Islamabad|native_name = |nickname = |settlement_type = Capital City |total_type [120] Because of its leadership structure, the assassination of Mullah Dadullah in May 2007 will not significantly affect the Taliban, but it may set-back the incipient relations with Pakistan. [121]
Human rights violations
According to Human Rights Watch, bombings and other attacks which have led to civilian casualties are reported to have "sharply escalated in 2006" with "at least 669 Afghan civilians were killed in at least 350 armed attacks, most of which appear to have been intentionally launched at non-combatants. Human Rights Watch is a United States -based international Non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on Human rights. "[122][123]
Timeline
2006
During the summer of 2006, the Battle of Panjwaii took place. The Battle of Panjwaii was a battle fought during two periods in the summer of 2006 primarily involving Canadian and Afghan soldiers being supported with some
- June 6: A roadside bombing leaves 2 American soldiers killed, the attack took place in the province of Nanghar. Also a separate suicide bombing in Khost leaves three US soldiers wounded. [124]
- June 15: A bus carrying workers to an American base explodes killing 10 and wounding 15. The explosives were placed on the bus. [125]
- July 1: 2 British soldiers are killed when their base came under small arms fire including rocket propelled grenades. [126]
- August 8: 4 Canadian NATO soldiers are killed in two separate attacks. And a suicide bomber targeting a NATO convey detonates killing 21 people. [127]
- August 20: 3 American soldiers are killed and another 3 are wounded in a battle with Taliban militants after a roadside bomb hit an American patrol. [128]
- September 8: A major suicide car bombing near the US embassy in Kabul kills 18 including 2 US soldiers. [129]
- September 10: The governor of Afghanistan's southeastern Paktia province is killed alongside his bodyguard and nephew when a suicide bomber detonates himself beside the governor's car. [130]
- October 14: A suicide attack in Kandahar city leaves 8 dead including one NATO soldier. [131]
- October 15: 2 Canadian soldiers were killed when Taliban militants attacked NATO troops using small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades. The North Atlantic Treaty [131]
- December 6: A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a security contractor's office killing 7 including 2 Americans, the attack took place south of Afghanistan in Kandahar. For the 2001 film see Kandahar (film; for the Kandahar meteorite of 1959 see Meteorite falls; for the places in Azerbaijan see Cəndəhar and [132]
- December 19: Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Osmani, reportedly number 4 in the Taliban shura, is killed by an American airstrike in southern Afghanistan. [133]
2007
- January 23: A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a US base in eastern Afghanistan killing 10 people who were waiting outside the base. [134]
- February 2: Taliban forces raided a southern Afghan town destroying the government center and briefly holding some elders captive. [135]
- February 19: The Taliban briefly seized a small town in western Afghanistan after police fled the town, the Taliban forces moved in for 30 minutes and seized three vehicles. [136]
- February 20: A suicide bomber blew himself up during an opening hospital ceremony injuring 2 NATO soldiers and a hospital worker. The North Atlantic Treaty [137]
- February 27: 23 people are killed when a suicide bomber attacks an American military base, Bagram Airfield (BAF) in Bagram District, Parwan Province. The attack took place while US vice president Dick Cheney was in the compound, Cheney was unhurt in the attack and was the intended target of the attack as claimed by the Taliban. The dead included an American soldier, a Korean soldier, and an American contractor. [138]
- March 4: A suicide bomber attacks an American convoy which leaves 16 civilians dead in the aftermath as the American convey begins to sporadically fire at civilian cars around them. In a separate incident, two British soldiers were killed when a Taliban rocket was fired on them during clashes in Southern Helmand Province. [139]
- March 17: A suicide bomber targeting a Canadian military convoy leaves one dead and three injured, including one NATO soldier. The attack took place in Kandahar. [140]
- March 19: A car bomb blew up near a three-vehicle US embassy convoy injuring many in the convoy. [141]
- March 27: Four police officers are killed in the southern Helmand province after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a police station. [142]
- March 28: A suicide bomber killed a top intelligence officer and three others in the capital Kabul.
- April 6: A suicide bomber struck a police checkpoint in Kabul leaving four dead and four others wounded. [143].
- April 9: Six Canadian soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan when they struck a roadside bomb. A separate roadside bombing, also in south Afghanistan, left another NATO soldier dead and one wounded. In another incident, a statement from the Taliban's spokesperson claimed that they had beheaded a translator for a kidnapped Italian journalist. [144]
- April 15: A suicide bomber struck a US-private security firm, killing four Afghans working for the company. [145]
- April 16: A suicide bomber ran onto a police training field and detonating his explosive device, killing 10 police officers and wounding dozens of others. The attack took place in the relatively quiet city of Kunduz. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. [146]
- April 20: Separate explosions in Southern Afghanistan leave two Nato soldiers dead. The North Atlantic Treaty [147]
- April 22: A suicide bomber blew himself up an eastern city of Afghanistan, killing six. A roadside bomb also hit an Afghan intelligence service vehicle, killing all four who were inside. [148]
- April 30: Hundreds of Afghans took to the streets in western Afghanistan, accusing US soldiers of killing scores of civilians in fighting which the coalition said killed 136 Taliban in a three-week operation. [149]
- May 13: Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban's top military commander in Afghanistan, is killed in fighting in the south. [133]
- May 23: The Taliban’s newly-named top field commander, Mullah Bakht Mohammed, brother and replacement of deceased field commander Mullah Dadullah, makes his first public statement, saying the Taliban will "pursue holy war until the occupying countries leave. Mullah Bakht Mohammed is Mullah Dadullah's younger brother who succeeded him as senior military commander of the Taliban. "[150]
- July 19: The South Korean hostage crisis involved the hostage taking of twenty-three South Korean Christian aid workers in the Ghazni Province which resulted in the death of two. The 2007 South Korean hostage crisis in Afghanistan began on July 19, 2007, when 23 South Korean missionaries were captured and held A hostage crisis develops when one or more Terrorists or Criminals hold people against their will and try to hold off the Authorities by force South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Humanitarian aid (also called succour) is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes typically in response to humanitarian crises Ghazni City ( - Ğaznī; Ghazna and Ghaznīn are the old names for Ghazni The crisis ended on August 30 with the release of the remaining hostages as part of a deal with the South Korean diplomats of government.
- August 31: A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle after ramming three military vehicles at the military gate of the Kabul International Airport. Two Afghan soldiers were killed and ten people were injured.
- September 29: In an effort to reach a compromise with the Taliban leaders, the president, Hamid Karzai would make a quid quo pro by allowing millitants to have a place in government if they stopped fighting. Taliban leaders replied by saying there would be no compromise unless intervening forces such as Nato and the U. S. left. [151]
- November 2: Mawlawi Abdul Manan, an important Taliban figure, is killed by Afghan Security forces. His death is confirmed by the Taliban. [152]
2008
- February 24: Poor military intelligence leads to conflicted reports of a possible Taliban spring offensive. Military intelligence (abbreviated MI int Commonwealth, or intel [153][154]
References
- ^ Pajhwok Afghan News, Taliban have opened office in Waziristan (Pakistan)
- ^ Jalali, Ali A. & Grau, Lester W. (6 March), “Whither the Taliban?”, The Cyber-Caravan, <http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/990306-taliban.htm>
- ^ Afghanistan: Taleban's second coming - BBC News 2 June 2006. "After being routed in 2001 the Taleban found a safe sanctuary in Balochistan and the North West Frontier province of Pakistan. They have been able to set up a major logistics hub, training camps, carry out fund raising and have been free to recruit fighters from madrassas and refugee camps. The Taleban have received help from Pakistan's two provincial governments, the MMA, Islamic extremist groups, the drugs mafia and criminal gangs - while the military regime has looked the other way. Al-Qaeda has helped the Taliban reorganise and forge alliances with other Afghan and Central Asian rebel groups. "
- ^ ISAF is made up of 39 countries, including all 26 NATO allies but also many other non-NATO countries. See ISAF Troop Contribution Placement, December 5, 2007
- ^ Goodson, Afghanistan's Endless War, (2001) p. 114.
- ^ Rashid,Taliban, (2000), p. 29
- ^ a b c d Dupree Hatch, Nancy. "Afghan Women under the Taliban" in Maley, William. Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban. London: Hurst and Company, 2001, pp. 145-166.
- ^ M. J. Gohari (2000). The Taliban: Ascent to Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 108-110.
- ^ A woman being flogged in public.
- ^ "The Taliban's War on Women"PDF (857 KiB), Physicians for Human Rights, August 1998. A kibibyte (a contraction of ki lo bi nary byte) is a unit of Information or Computer storage, established by the International
- ^ "100 Girls' Schools in Afghan Capital Are Ordered Shut", The New York Times, June 17, 1998. Events 1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II ( The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat
- ^ Electronic Dictionary, Electronic Translator, Software for Translation for 45 languages - ECTACO UK
- ^ Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim world / editor in chief, Richard C. Martin, Macmillan Reference USA : Thomson/Gale, c2004
- ^ Matinuddin, Kamal, The Taliban Phenomenon, Afghanistan 1994-1997, Oxford University Press, (1999), p. 25-6
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000), 25-29.
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000)
- ^ Rashid, Taliban, (2000) p. 27-9
- ^ The Taliban — Infoplease.com
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 1
- ^ Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, the Taliban has also been known to discriminate against the rights of women saying that men cannot be "trusted" around them (2004)
- ^ Rashid,Taliban, (2000), p. 132, 139
- ^ Rashid,Taliban, (2000), p. 87
- ^ Roy, Olivier, Globalized Islam, Columbia University Press, 2004, p. 239
- ^ Rashid,Taliban (2000), p. 92
- ^ Pashtun people#Demographics
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. Pashtuns ( Pashto: پښتون Paṣtūn, Paxtūn, also rendered as Pushtuns, Pakhtuns, Pukhtuns) also called 101
- ^ Rashid,Taliban (2000), p. 98
- ^ a b Rashid, Taliban (2000) p. 39-40
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 101-2
- ^ a b Human Rights Watch Report, `Afghanistan, the massacre in Mazar-e-Sharif`, November 1998. INCITEMENT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST HAZARAS BY GOVERNOR NIAZI
- ^ a b Rashid,Taliban (2000), p. 107
- ^ Rashid, Taliban, p. 93, 137
- ^ March 1996 interview in Kandahar with Mullah Wakil, an aide to Omar by Ahmed Rashid, from Rashid's book Taliban (2000), p. 43
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 5
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 100
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 95
- ^ Interview with Taliban spokesman Mullah Wakil in Arabic magazine Al-Majallah, 23 October 1996
- ^ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4145138,00.html "How the Buddha got his wounds", Guardian March 3, 2001
- ^ a b Rashid,Taliban, (2000), p. Events 4004 BC - Creation of the world begins according to the calculations of Archbishop James Ussher 42 BC - Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) Events 1284 - Statute of Rhuddlan incorporated the Principality of Wales into England 1575 - Indian Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. 41-2
- ^ Rashid,Taliban, (2000), p. 42
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 26
- ^ a b Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 32
- ^ Rashid, Taliban, (2000) p. 111
- ^ Amy Waldman, `No TV, no Chess, No Kites: Taliban's Code, from A to Z,` New York Times, November 22, 2001
- ^ a b US Country Report on Human Rights Practices - Afghanistan 2001
- ^ Rashid,Taliban (2000), p. 105
- ^ a b Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 218-9. See the full edict here: The Taliban In Their Own Words
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 106
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000) p. 70
- ^ Rashid,Taliban (2000), p. 114
- ^ a b Rashid,Taliban (2000), p. 71.
- ^ a b c Wright, Looming Towers (2006), p. 337.
- ^ a b Rashid,Taliban, (2000), p. 115-116.
- ^ Rashid,Taliban (2000), p. 73.
- ^ Goodson, Afghanistan's Endless War, (2001), p. 79.
- ^ THE MASSACRE IN MAZAR-I SHARIF, THE FIRST DAY OF THE TAKEOVER.
- ^ Rashid,Taliban (2000), p. 68
- ^ Rashid,Taliban (2000), p. 76.
- ^ MASSACRES OF HAZARAS IN AFGHANISTAN, hrw. org.
- ^ Rashid,Taliban (2000), p. 192.
- ^ Interviews with cabinet ministers and bureaucrats in June 1998 and information [provided by civilian and military officials between 1995 and 1999 to Ahmed Rashid, in Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 183. Also "Pakistan and the Taliban" in Maley, William, Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban, C. Hurst, London, 1998.
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000) p. 185-186.
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000) p. 177.
- ^ Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, (2004).
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 74-75.
- ^ IRANIAN-AFGHAN TENSIONS.
- ^ Reuters, "Taliban blame Clinton scam for attacks", 21 August 1998
- ^ Rashid,Taliban, (2000), p. Events 1192 - Minamoto Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Shōgun and the De facto ruler of Japan. Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) 138, 231.
- ^ Rashid, Taliban, (2000), p. 78.
- ^ Rashid,Taliban (2000), p. 126.
- ^ UNCP Country Development Indicators, 1995.
- ^ quoting the ICRC.
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 72.
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 64, 78.
- ^ interview June 1997, (Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 111-112).
- ^ Rashid, Taliban, (2000), p. 101.
- ^ "Taliban Briefly Detains European Aid Official Visiting Hospital," The New York Times, September 30, 1997. ; p. A10 (1 page).
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 65.
- ^ Aid agencies pull out of Kabul The building had "no electricity or running water. "
- ^ Rashid, Taliban (2000), p. 71-72.
- ^ Agence France-Presse, "Taliban reject warnings of aid pull-out", 16 July 1998.
- ^ Wright, Looming Towers, (2006), p. 246-247, 287-288.
- ^ Wright, Looming Towers (2006), p. 288-289.
- ^ Rashid, Taliban, p. 139.
- ^ International Terrorism And the Case Of Usama bin Laden, Lebanese Army Website.
- ^ Lawrence Wright believes bin Laden was almost completely broke at this time, cut off from his family income and fleeced by the Sudanese. (See Wright, Looming Towers (2006), p. 222-223).
- ^ Wright, Looming Towers (2006), p. 355.
- ^ PDF of indictments.
- ^ CNN report.
- ^ BBC article stating that bin Laden in "a man without sin".
- ^ a b "Taliban Won't Turn Over Bin Laden", CBS News, 2001-09-21. CBS News is the news division of American Television and Radio network CBS. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Events 1217 - The Estonian tribal leader Lembitu of Lehola was killed in a battle against Teutonic Knights. Retrieved on 2007-07-07. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1456 - A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death
- ^ CNN records of evidence against bin Laden.
- ^ Cooperative Research records of evidence against bin Laden.
- ^ Bin Laden, Messages to the World, (2006), p. 143, from Interview published in Al-Quds Al-Arabi in London, Nov. 12, 2001 (originally published in Pakistani daily, Ausaf, Nov. 7), shortly before the Northern Alliance entry into Kabul.
- ^ Rashid,Taliban, (2000), p. 91.
- ^ Rashid,Taliban, (2000), p. 93
- ^ Source: Yousufzai, Rahimyllah, "Pakistani Taliban at work," The News, 18 December 1998. Events 218 BC - Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia - Hannibal 's Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) See also AFP, "Murder convict executed Taliban style in Pakistan", 14 December 1998. Events 1287 - St Lucia's flood: The Zuider Zee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses killing over 50000 people Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar)
- ^ Rashid,Taliban, (2000), p. 194.
- ^ Agence France Presse, "Kashmir militant group issues Islamic dress order," 21 February 1999. Events 362 - Athanasius returns to Alexandria. 1245 - Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar)
- ^ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Published: May 15, 2007, "Suicide Bombing Kills at Least 25 in Pakistan". Events 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issues the Papal bull Ad exstirpanda, which authorizes but also limits the Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
- ^ "Pakistan and Japan plead for Afghan statues", CNN.com, 2001-03-09. Cable News Network, usually referred to by its Initialism CNN, is a major English language Television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Events 590 - Bahram Chobin is crowned as king Barham VI of Persia. Retrieved on 2007-01-20. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 250 - Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome.
- ^ Rashid,Taliban, (2000), p. 118-119.
- ^ Afghanistan, Opium and the Taliban.
- ^ Benjamin, Daniel, The Age of Sacred Terror by Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, New York : Random House, c2002, p. 145) (source: Edith M. Lederer, "U. N. Panel Accuses Taliban of Selling Drugs to Finance War and Train Terrorists," Associated Press, 25 May 2001. Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar.
- ^ Afghanistan, Opium and the Taliban.
- ^ Victorious warlords set to open the opium floodgates
- ^ Afghanistan: Addicted To Heroin.
- ^ Afghanistan Opium Crop Sets Record - Washington Post December 2, 2006. The Washington Post is the largest and most circulated Newspaper in Washington D Events 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
- ^ United States ultimatum.
- ^ JNV briefing
- ^ BISHOP, P. , Pakistan Halts Secret Plan for bin Laden Trial, Daily Telegraph, 4 Oct 2001.
- ^ Taliban offers to try bin Laden in an Islamic court.
- ^ October 21, 2001 interview with Taysir Alluni of Al Jazeera. Events 1512 - Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar.
- ^ The United States declares war on the Taliban.
- ^ Operation Enduring Freedom.
- ^ Intentions of U.S. military operation.
- ^ Taliban offers to hand bin Laden to a neutral nation for trial.
- ^ "Poppies for Medicine" The Senlis Council.
- ^ "Countering the insurgency in Afghanistan, Losing friends and making enemies" The Senlis Council.
- ^ Pakistan Security Research Unit (PSRU).
- ^ Shahzad, Syed Saleem. "Pakistan: Hello al-Qaeda, goodbye America", Asia Times Online, 2006-09-08. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 70 - Roman forces under Titus sack Jerusalem. 1264 - The Statute of Kalisz Retrieved on 2006-09-12. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1213 - Albigensian Crusade: Simon de Montfort 5th Earl of Leicester, defeats Peter II of Aragon at the
- ^ Human Rights News, Afghanistan: Civilians Bear Cost of Escalating Insurgent Attacks.
- ^ The Consequences of Insurgent Attacks in Afghanistan, April 2007, Volume 19, No. 6(C).
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- ^ a b [7].
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- ^ a b A setback for the Neo Taliban by B Raman.
- ^ Suicide Bomber Kills 10 in Afghanistan. by AMIR SHAH, The Associated Press.
- ^ Taliban militants overrun Afghan town, destroy government center, Afghan News.
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- ^ [12].
- ^ [13].
- ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070319/ap_on_re_as/afghan_violence;_ylt=AmCH1gOsp.Z4pePx6V2_VSQUewgF
- ^ Suicide attack on US embassy convoy, The Nation.
- ^ [14]
- ^ [15].
- ^ [16].
- ^ [17].
- ^ [18].
- ^ [19].
- ^ [20].
- ^ Taliban commander: War will go on until West leaves.
- ^ [21]
- ^ [22].
- ^ Taliban threaten spring offensive on Kabul.
- ^ US Military: Taliban spring offensive unlikely in Afghanistan.
Further reading
- Rashid, Ahmed (2000). Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. ISBN 0-300-08340-8. , republished by Pan Books with the title Taliban: The story of the Afghan warlords: including a new foreword following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, ISBN 0-330-49221-7. Page citations are to the Pan Books edition.
- Hosseini, Khaled (2001). The Kite Runner. Riverhead Books. ISBN 1-57322-245-3.
- Goodson, Larry (2001). Afghanistan's Endless War. University of Washington Press.
See also
- Al-Qaeda
- Taliban treatment of women
- A Thousand Splendid Suns
- Talibanization
- Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
- Deobandi
- Pashtun people
- Hazara people
- American Taliban
- History of Afghanistan since 1992
- Northern Alliance
- Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
- Opium production in Afghanistan
External links
- Afghan call for ethnic cleansing
- Taliban in Central Asia
- The Taliban's Secret Photos
- Photographs From A Taliban Ambush
- U.S. Offers $200,000 to Catch Taliban on Time. Al-Qaeda, alternatively spelled al-Qaida, al-Qa`ida or al-Qa`idah, ( Arabic:; ar-Latn ''al-qāʿidah'' Translation: The in power in Afghanistan the Taliban became notorious internationally within the Western Community for their treatment of women. A Thousand Splendid Suns ( Persian: دو صد خورشیدرو) is a 2007 Novel by Afghan author Khaled Hosseini Talibanization (or Talibanisation) is a Neologism coined following the rise of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan referring to the process Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was the name given to the nation of Afghanistan by the Taliban during their rule from 1996 to 2001 The Deobandi ( Urdu: دیو بندی devbandī) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist movement which started in India and has more recently Pashtuns ( Pashto: پښتون Paṣtūn, Paxtūn, also rendered as Pushtuns, Pakhtuns, Pukhtuns) also called The Hazāra ( are a Persian-speaking people residing in the central region of Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. American Taliban is a pejorative neologism used to describe some American fundamentalists by their opponents See also Civil war in Afghanistan This article on the History of Afghanistan since 1992 covers the time period from the fall of the Najibullah government in 1992 The United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( UIF, Jabha-yi Muttahid-i Islami-yi Milli bara-yi Nijat-i Afghanistan) also known as the Northern The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is an international Treaty to prohibit production and supply of specific (nominally Narcotic) Drugs and of drugs The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC is a United Nations agency that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention Afghanistan is as of March 2008 the greatest illicit (in Western World standards Opium producer in the world before Burma ( Myanmar) part of the so-called " com (a division of Time Magazine) October 1, 2007
- The Afghan Women's Mission
- The Pakistan Security Research Unit (PSRU)
- Afghan Women's Network- Working to empower women in Afghanistan
- Amnesty International USA - Afghanistan: Human Rights Concerns
- BBC - Who Are The Taleban? - 20/12/2000
- BBC News - Inside Afghanistan: Behind The Veil - 27/06/01
- BBC News - On the road with the Taleban - 21/10/06
- BBC News - Taliban give video interview - 26/10/06
- CNN In-Depth Specials - Afghanistan under the Taliban
- East Carolina University - The War on Terrorism: Afghanistan and the Taliban
- Feminist Majority Foundation - The Taliban & Afghan Women: Background
- Frontline: Return Of The Taliban
- Future Opioids: Afghanistan, Opium and the Taliban
- Global Research.ca - The War in Afghanistan: Drugs, Money Laundering and the Banking System by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya 17/10/06
- Hazara.org
- Islam For Today: Afghanistan's Taliban: Not a valid interpretation of Islam
- MSN Encarta - Taliban
- The National Security Archive - The September 11th Sourcebooks Volume VII: The Taliban File September 2003
- The New York Times - Taliban News
- The New York Times Magazine - The Education of a Holy Warrior
- Physicians For Human Rights - 1999 Report: The Taliban's War on Women - A Health and Human Rights Crisis in Afghanistan
- Prostitution Under the rule of Taliban - RAWA Report 1999
- The Taliban In Their Own Words
- Third World Traveler - Afghanistan, the CIA, bin Laden, and the Taliban by Phil Gasper, International Socialist Review 11 & 12 2001
- Time.Com Primer - The Taliban and Afghanistan
- UC Berkeley Library - Afghanistan and the US: selected internet resources
- The United States Institute For Peace - The Taliban and Afghanistan: implications for Regional Security and Options for International Action- November 1998, Special Report No. 39
- Boys of the Taliban - by Jamie Glazov, FrontPage Magazine, Dec. 29th, 2006
- "Is One of the Lost Tribes the Taliban?" -- from Moment Magazine (April 2007)
- "Taliban may have origin in ancient tribe of Israel: Anthropologist finds many similarities" -- from the San Francisco Chronicle (October 2001)
- Afghanistan Five Years Later: The Return of the Taliban, senliscouncil.net
- US Country Report on Human Rights Practices - Afghanistan 2001
- US says Mullah Omar in 'Pakistan'
Dictionary
Taliban
-proper noun
- (Islam) a Sunni Islamic student movement in Afghanistan; organized in 1994 by the radical mullah "Mohammad Omar"
-noun
- a Taliban militia
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