In arguably the most significant development in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region since the May 2011 death of al-Qa‘ida founder Usama Bin Ladin, the Taliban in July 2015 revealed that its reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, had died in 2013. The Taliban held sway in Afghanistan until October 2001, when they were routed from power by the US-led campaign against al-Qa‘ida. This gave al-Qa‘ida a base in which it could freely recruit, train, and deploy terrorists to other countries. In the years leading up to the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, the Taliban provided a safe haven for al-Qa‘ida.

In practice, this meant often merciless policies on the treatment of women, political opponents of any type, and religious minorities. The Taliban’s first move was to institute a strict interpretation of Qur‘anic instruction and jurisprudence. By September 1996, the Taliban had captured Kabul, killed the country’s president, and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Taliban found a foothold and consolidated their strength in southern Afghanistan.īy 1994, the Taliban had moved their way through the south, capturing several provinces from various armed factions who had been fighting a civil war after the Soviet-backed Afghan government fell in 1992.

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

Another word for running the government