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Taliban

Talibanطالبان

Participant in the Civil war in Afghanistan, the War in Afghanistan (2001–present)

Flag used by the Taliban (1997–2001) Active Sept. 1994 – Sept. 1996 (militia)

Sept. 1996 – Dec. 2001 (government)2004–present (insurgency)

Ideology IslamismIslamic fundamentalismPashtun nationalism

Leaders Mullah Mohammed OmarMullah Abdul Ghani BaradarMullah Obaidullah Akhund

Area ofoperations

Afghanistan and Pakistan

Strength 45,000 (2001 est.)[1]

11,000 (2008 est.)[2]

36,000 (2010 est.)[3]

Originated as Students of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam

Allies Pakistan (Inter-Services Intelligence)Haqqani networkHezb-e-Islami GulbuddinIslamic Emirate of WaziristanTehrik-i-Taliban PakistanIslamic Movement of UzbekistanEast Turkestan Islamic MovementAl-Qaeda and Chechens

Opponents United States armed forcesInternational Security Assistance Force(ISAF)Military of Afghanistan

The Taliban, alternative spelling Taleban,[4] (ṭālibān, meaning "students" in Arabic) is an Islamist militia group thatruled large parts of Afghanistan from September 1996 onwards. Although in control of Afghanistan's capital (Kabul)and most of the country for five years, the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan gained diplomatic recognitionfrom only three states: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. After the attacks of September 112001 the Taliban regime was overthrown by Operation Enduring Freedom. The Taliban mostly fled to neighboringPakistan where they regrouped as an insurgency movement to fight the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (establishedin late 2001) and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).[5]

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Most Taliban leaders were influenced by Deobandi fundamentalism. Many also strictly follow the social and culturalnorm called Pashtunwali. The Taliban movement is primarily made up of members belonging to Pashtun tribes, thelargest ethnic group in Afghanistan.[6] The main leader of the Taliban movement is Mullah Mohammed Omar.[7]

Omar's original commanders were "a mixture of former small-unit military commanders and madrassa teachers."[8]

While in power, the Taliban enforced one of the strictest interpretations of Sharia law ever seen in the Muslimworld,[9] however most of their critisism came from leading Muslim scholars.[10] They became notoriousinternationally for their treatment of women.[11]

The Taliban's allies include the Pakistani army as well as Arab and Central Asian militants.[12] [13] [14] Al Qaedasupported the Taliban with regiments of imported fighters from Arab countries and Central Asia. In the late period ofthe war, of an estimated 45,000 force fighting on the side of the Taliban, only 14,000 were Afghans.[13] [15] Todaythe Taliban operate in Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan. US officials say one of their headquarters is in or nearQuetta, Pakistan.[16] The Taliban engage in terrorism against the civilian population of Afghanistan. According to areport by the United Nations, the Taliban were responsible for 76% of civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2009.[17]

EtymologyThe word Taliban is Pashto, طالبان ṭālibān, meaning "students", the plural of ṭālib. This is a loanword from Arabicṭālibān is طالبان ṭullāb, whereas طالب the Arabic plural being) ان ṭālib,[18] plus the Indo-Iranian plural ending -an طالبa dual form with the incongruous meaning, to Arabic speakers, of "two students"). Since becoming a loanword inEnglish, Taliban, besides a plural noun referring to the group, has also been used as a singular noun referring to anindividual. For example, John Walker Lindh has been referred to as "an American Taliban", rather than "anAmerican Talib". In the English language newspapers of Pakistan the word talibans is often used when referring tomore than one taliban. The spelling 'Taliban' has come to predominate over 'Taleban' in English.[19]

History

EmergenceAfter the fall of the communist Mohammad Najibullah-regime in 1992, several Afghan political parties agreed on apeace and power-sharing agreement (the Peshawar Accords). The Peshawar Accords created the Islamic State ofAfghanistan and appointed an interim government for a transitional period. According to Human Rights Watch:

The sovereignty of Afghanistan was vested formally in the Islamic State of Afghanistan, an entity created inApril 1992, after the fall of the Soviet-backed Najibullah government. [...] With the exception of GulbuddinHekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami, all of the parties... were ostensibly unified under this government in April 1992.[...] Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami, for its part, refused to recognize the government for most of the perioddiscussed in this report and launched attacks against government forces and Kabul generally. [...] Shells androckets fell everywhere.[20]

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar received operational, financial and military support from Pakistan.[21] Afghanistan expertAmin Saikal concludes in Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival:

Pakistan was keen to gear up for a breakthrough in Central Asia. [...] Islamabad could not possibly expect thenew Islamic government leaders... to subordinate their own nationalist objectives in order to help Pakistanrealize its regional ambitions. [...] Had it not been for the ISI's logistic support and supply of a large number ofrockets, Hekmatyar's forces would not have been able to target and destroy half of Kabul.[22]

In addition, Saudi Arabia and Iran – as competitors for regional hegemony – supported Afghan militias hostile towards each other.[22] According to Human Rights Watch, Iran assisted the Shia Hazara Hezb-i Wahdat forces of Abdul Ali Mazari, as Iran attempted to maximize Wahdat's military power and influence.[20] [22] [23] Saudi Arabia supported the Wahhabite Abdul Rasul Sayyaf and his Ittihad-i Islami faction.[20] [22] Conflict between the two

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militias soon escalated into a full-scale war. A publication by the George Washington University describes:[O]utside forces saw instability in Afghanistan as an opportunity to press their own security and politicalagendas.[24]

Due to the sudden initiation of the war, working government departments, police units or a system of justice andaccountability for the newly-created Islamic State of Afghanistan did not have time to form. Horrific crimes werecommitted by individuals of different factions. Rare ceasefires, usually negotiated by representatives of Ahmad ShahMassoud, Sibghatullah Mojaddedi or Burhanuddin Rabbani (the interim government), or officials from theInternational Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), commonly collapsed within days.[20]

Meanwhile southern Afghanistan was neither under the control of foreign-backed militias nor the government inKabul, but was ruled by local leaders such as Gul Agha Sherzai and their militias. In 1991, the Taliban (a movementoriginating from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-run religious schools for Afghan refugees in Pakistan) also developed inAfghanistan as a politico-religious force, reportedly in opposition to the tyranny of the local governor.[25] MullahOmar started his movement with fewer than 50 armed madrassah students in his hometown of Kandahar.[25] Themost credible and often-repeated story of how Mullah Omar first mobilized his followers is that in the spring of1994, neighbors in Singesar told him that the local governor had abducted two teenage girls, shaved their heads, andtaken them to a camp where they were raped repeatedly. 30 Taliban (with only 16 rifles) freed the girls, and hangedthe governor from the barrel of a tank. Later that year, two militia commanders killed civilians while fighting for theright to sodomize a young boy. The Taliban freed him.[25] [26]

The Taliban's first major military activity was in 1994, when they marched northward from Maiwand and capturedKandahar City and the surrounding provinces, losing only a few dozen men.[27] When they took control of Kandaharin 1994, they forced the surrender of dozens of local Pashtun leaders who had presided over a situation of completelawlessness and atrocities.[27] [28] The Taliban also took-over a border crossing at Spin Baldak and an ammunitiondump from Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. In the course of 1994, the Taliban took control of 12 of 34 provinces not undercentral government control, disarming the "heavily armed population". Militias controlling the different areas oftensurrendered without a fight.[9]

At the same time most of the militia factions (Hekmatyar's Hezb-i Islami, Junbish-i Milli and Hezb-i Wahdat) whichhad been fighting in the battle for control of Kabul were defeated militarily by forces of the Islamic State's Secretaryof Defense Ahmad Shah Massoud. Bombardment of the capital came to a halt.[29] [30] [31] Massoud tried to initiate anationwide political process with the goal of national consolidation and democratic elections, also inviting theTaliban to join the process and to contribute to stability.[15] Ahmad Shah Massoud had been named "The Afghanwho won the cold war" by The Wall Street Journal.[32] He had defeated the Soviet Red Army nine times in his homeregion of Panjshir, in north-eastern Afghanistan.[33] Massoud, unarmed, went to talk to some Taliban leaders inMaidan Shar to convince them to join the initiated political process, so that democratic elections could be held todecide on a future government for Afghanistan. He hoped for them to be allies in bringing stability to Afghanistan.But the Taliban declined to join such a political process. When Massoud returned unharmed to Kabul, the Talibanleader who had received him as his guest paid with his life (he was killed by other senior Taliban) for failing toexecute Massoud while the possibility had presented itself.The Taliban started shelling Kabul in early 1995 but were defeated by forces of the Islamic State government underAhmad Shah Massoud.[30] see video [34] Amnesty International, referring to the Taliban offensive, wrote in a 1995report:

This is the first time in several months that Kabul civilians have become the targets of rocket attacks andshelling aimed at residential areas in the city.[30]

The Taliban's early victories in 1994 were followed by a series of devastating defeats that resulted in heavy losses.[28] Pakistan started to provide stronger military support to the Taliban.[12] [22] Many analysts like Amin Saikal describe the Taliban as developing into a proxy force for Pakistan's regional interests which the Taliban decline.[22] On September 26, 1996, as the Taliban with military support by Pakistan and financial support by Saudi

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Arabia prepared for another major offensive, Massoud ordered a full retreat from Kabul.[35] The Taliban seizedKabul on September 27, 1996, and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Taliban Emirate against United Front

Ahmad Shah Massoud (right) with Pashtun anti-Taliban leaderand later Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Haji Abdul Qadir

Creation of the United Front

The Taliban imposed on the parts of Afghanistan undertheir control their interpretation of Islam. The Physiciansfor Human Rights (PHR) analyze:

"To PHR's knowledge, no other regime in theworld has methodically and violently forced half ofits population into virtual house arrest, prohibitingthem on pain of physical punishment".[36]

Women were required to wear the all-covering burqa,they were banned from public life and denied access tohealth care and education, windows needed to be coveredso that women could not be seen from the outside, andthey were not allowed to laugh in a manner they could beheard by others.[36] The Taliban, without any real court orhearing, cut people's hands or arms off when they wereaccused of stealing.[36] Taliban hit-squads watched thestreets, conducting brutal public beatings.[36]

Ahmad Shah Massoud and Abdul Rashid Dostum, two former archnemeses, created the United Front (NorthernAlliance) against the Taliban that were preparing offensives against the remaining areas under the control ofMassoud and those under the control of Dostum. see video [37] The United Front included beside the dominantlyTajik forces of Massoud and the Uzbek forces of Dostum, Hazara factions and Pashtun forces under the leadership ofcommanders such as Abdul Haq, Haji Abdul Qadir, Qari Baba or diplomat Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai. From theTaliban conquest in 1996 until November 2001 the United Front controlled roughly 30% of Afghanistan's populationin provinces such as Badakhshan, Kapisa, Takhar and parts of Parwan, Kunar, Nuristan, Laghman, Samangan,Kunduz, Ghōr and Bamyan.

Taliban massacres

According to a 55-page report by the United Nations, the Taliban, while trying to consolidate control over northernand western Afghanistan, committed systematic massacres against civilians.[38] [39] UN officials stated that there hadbeen "15 massacres" between 1996 and 2001.[38] [39] They also said, that "[t]hese have been highly systematic andthey all lead back to the [Taliban] Ministry of Defense or to Mullah Omar himself."[38] [39] In a major effort to retakethe Shomali plains, the Taliban indiscriminately killed civilians, while uprooting and expelling the population.Kamal Hossein, a special reporter for the UN, reported on these and other war crimes. Upon taking Mazar-i-Sharif in1998, about 4,000 civilians were executed by the Taliban and many more reported tortured.[40] [41] The Talibanespecially targeted people of Shia religious or Hazara ethnic background.[38] [39] Among those killed in MazariSharif were several Iranian diplomats. Others were kidnapped by the Taliban, touching off a hostage crisis thatnearly escalated to a full scale war, with 150,000 Iranian soldiers massed on the Afghan border at one time.[42] It waslater admitted that the diplomats were killed by the Taliban, and their bodies were returned to Iran.[43]

The documents also reveal the role of Arab and Pakistani support troops in these killings.[38] [39] Bin Laden's so-called 055 Brigade was responsible for mass-killings of Afghan civilians.[13] The report by the United Nations

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quotes eyewitnesses in many villages describing Arab fighters carrying long knives used for slitting throats andskinning people.[38] [39]

Pakistani military interference

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf – then as Chief of Army Staff – was responsible for sending thousands ofPakistanis to fight alongside the Taliban and Bin Laden against the forces of Massoud.[12] [44] [45] [15] In total therewere believed to be 28,000 Pakistani nationals fighting inside Afghanistan.[15] 20,000 were regular Pakistani soldierseither from the Frontier Corps or army and an estimated 8,000 were militants recruited in madrassas filling regularTaliban ranks.[13] The estimated 25,000 Taliban regular force thus comprised more than 8,000 Pakistaninationals.[13] [46] A 1998 document by the U.S. State Department confirms that "20–40 percent of [regular] Talibansoldiers are Pakistani."[12] The document further states that the parents of those Pakistani nationals "know nothingregarding their child's military involvement with the Taliban until their bodies are brought back to Pakistan."[12]

Further 3,000 fighters of the regular Taliban army were Arab and Central Asian militants.[13] From 1996 to 2001 theAl Qaeda of Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri became a state within the Taliban state.[47] Bin Laden sentArab recruits to join the fight against the United Front.[33] [47] Of roughly 45,000 Pakistani, Taliban and Al Qaedasoldiers fighting against the forces of Massoud only 14,000 were Afghan.[13] [15]

Ahmad Shah Massoud

Map of Afghanistan in late 1996; Massoud (red), Dostum (green),and Taliban (yellow)

Ahmad Shah Massoud was the only major anti-Talibanleader who never left Afghanistan for exile and who wasable to defend vast parts of his territory against theTaliban. Abdul Rashid Dostum and his forces weredefeated by the Taliban in 1998. Dostum subsequentlywent into exile.

In the areas under his control Massoud set up democraticinstitutions and signed the Women's RightsDeclaration.[15] In the area of Massoud, women and girlsdid not have to wear the Afghan burqa. They wereallowed to work and to go to school. In at least twoknown instances, Massoud personally intervened againstcases of forced marriage.[15] To Massoud there wasreportedly nothing worse than treating a person like anobject.[15] He stated:

"It is our conviction and we believe that both men and women are created by the Almighty. Both have equalrights. Women can pursue an education, women can pursue a career, and women can play a role in society –just like men."[15]

Author Pepe Escobar wrote in Massoud: From Warrior to Statesman:"Massoud is adamant that in Afghanistan women have suffered oppression for generations. He says that 'thecultural environment of the country suffocates women. But the Taliban exacerbate this with oppression.' Hismost ambitious project is to shatter this cultural prejudice and so give more space, freedom and equality towomen – they would have the same rights as men."[15]

While it was Massoud's stated conviction that men and women are equal and should enjoy the same rights, he also had to deal with Afghan traditions which he said would need a generation or more to overcome. In his opinion that could only be achieved through education.[15] Humayun Tandar, who took part as a Afghan diplomat in the 2001 International Conference on Afghanistan in Bonn, said that "strictures of language, ethnicity, region were [also] stifling for Massoud. That is why ... he wanted to create a unity which could surpass the situation in which we found

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ourselves and still find ourselves to this day."[15] This applied also to strictures of religion. Jean-José Puig describeshow Massoud often led prayers before a meal or at times asked his fellow Muslims to lead the prayer but also did nothesitate to ask a Christian friend Jean-José Puig or the Jewish Princeton University Professor Michael Barry:"Jean-José, we believe in the same God. Please, tell us the prayer before lunch or dinner in your own language."[15]

Human Rights Watch cites no human rights crimes for the forces under direct control of Massoud for the period fromOctober 1996 until the assassination of Massoud in September 2001.[48] One million peolple fled the Taliban, manyto the area of Massoud.[44] [49] National Geographic concluded in its documentary "Inside the Taliban":

The only thing standing in the way of future Taliban massacres is Ahmad Shah Massoud."[44]

The Taliban repeatedly offered Massoud a position of power to make him stop his resistance. Massoud declined. Heexplained in one interview:

"The Taliban say: "Come and accept the post of prime minister and be with us", and they would keep thehighest office in the country, the presidentship. But for what price?! The difference between us concernsmainly our way of thinking about the very principles of the society and the state. We can not accept theirconditions of compromise, or else we would have to give up the principles of modern democracy. We arefundamentally against the system called "the Emirate of Afghanistan"."[50]

"There should be an Afghanistan where every Afghan finds himself or herself happy. And I think that can onlybe assured by democracy based on consensus."[51]

Massoud with his Proposals for Peace [52] wanted to convince the Taliban to join a political process leading towardsnationwide democratic elections in a foreseeable future.[50] Massoud also stated:

"The Taliban are not a force to be considered invincible. They are distanced from the people now. They areweaker than in the past. There is only the assistance given by Pakistan, Osama bin Laden and other extremistgroups that keep the Taliban on their feet. With a halt to that assistance, it is extremely difficult to survive."[51]

In spring 2001 the anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Shah Massoud stated that theTaliban and Al Qaeda had introduced "a very wrong perception of Islam" and

warned about a large-scale attack on U.S. soil being imminent.

In early 2001 Massoud employed a newstrategy of local military pressure and globalpolitical appeals.[53] Resentment wasincreasingly gathering against Taliban rulefrom the bottom of Afghan society includingthe Pashtun areas.[53] Massoud publicized theircause "popular consensus, general electionsand democracy" worldwide. At the same timehe was very wary not to revive the failedKabul government of the early 1990s.[53]

Already in 1999 he started the training ofpolice forces which he trained specifically inorder to keep order and protect the civilianpopulation in case the United Front would besuccessful.[15]

In early 2001 Ahmad Shah Massoud addressedthe European Parliament in Brussels asking

the international community to provide humanitarian help to the people of Afghanistan.[54] see video [55] He statedthat the Taliban and Al Qaeda had introduced "a very wrong perception of Islam" and that without the support ofPakistan and Bin Laden the Taliban would not be able to sustain their military campaign for up to a year.[56] On thisvisit to Europe he also warned that his intelligence had gathered information about a large-scale attack on U.S. soilbeing imminent.[57]

The president of the European Parliament, Nicole Fontaine, called him the "pole of liberty in Afghanistan".[58]

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On September 9, 2001, Massoud, then aged 48, was the target of a suicide attack by two Arabs posing as journalistsat Khwaja Bahauddin, in the Takhar Province of Afghanistan.[59] [60] Massoud died in a helicopter taking him to ahospital. The funeral, though in a rather rural area, was attended by hundreds of thousands of mourning people.Sadday [61] (video clip).The assassination was not the first time Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the Pakistani ISI, and before them the Soviet KGB,the Afghan Communist KHAD and Hekmatyar had tried to assassinate Massoud. He survived countlessassassination attempts over a period of 26 years. The first attempt on Massoud's life was carried out by Hekmatyarand two Pakistani ISI agents in 1975, when Massoud was only 22 years old.[23] In early 2001, Al-Qaeda would-beassassins were captured by Massoud's forces while trying to enter his territory.[53] The assassination of Massoud mayhave had a connection to the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. soil, which killed nearly 3000 people, and whichappeared to be the terrorist attack that Massoud had warned against in his speech to the European Parliament severalmonths earlier [62] .John P. O'Neill was a counter-terrorism expert and the Assistant Director of the FBI until late 2001. He retired fromthe FBI and was offered the position of director of security at the World Trade Center (WTC). He took the job at theWTC two weeks before 9/11. On September 10, 2001, O'Neill told two of his friends, "We're due. And we're due forsomething big.... Some things have happened in Afghanistan. [referring to the assassination of Massoud] I don't likethe way things are lining up in Afghanistan.... I sense a shift, and I think things are going to happen ... soon."[63]

O'Neill died on September 11, 2001, when the South Tower collapsed.[63]

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Massoud's United Front troops ousted the Taliban from power inKabul with American air support in Operation Enduring Freedom. In November and December 2001 the UnitedFront gained control of much of the country and played a crucial role in establishing the post-Taliban interimgovernment of Hamid Karzai in late 2001.

NATO invasion, Taliban overthrow and insurgency

Prelude

After the September 11 attacks on the U.S. and the PENTTBOM investigation, the United States made the followingdemands of the Taliban,[64] and refused to discuss them:

1. Deliver to the U.S. all of the leaders of Al-Qaeda2. Release all foreign nationals that have been "unjustly imprisoned"3. Protect foreign journalists, diplomats, and aid workers4. Close immediately every terrorist training camp5. Hand over every terrorist and their supporters to appropriate authorities6. Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps for inspection

The U.S. petitioned the international community to back a military campaign to overthrow the Taliban. The U.N.issued two resolutions on terrorism after the Sept.11 attacks. The resolutions called on all states to "[increase]cooperation and full implementation of the relevant international conventions relating to terrorism" and specifiedconsensus recommendations for all countries. The Security Council did not authorize military intervention inAfghanistan of any kind, and nowhere in the U.N resolutions did it say military operations in Afghanistan werejustified or conformed to international law.[65] Despite this, NATO approved a campaign against Afghanistan asself-defense against armed attack.[66]

On September 21, the Taliban responded to the ultimatum, promising that if the U.S. could bring evidence that binLaden was guilty, they would hand him over, stating that they had no evidence linking him to the September 11attacks.[67]

On September 22, the United Arab Emirates, and later Saudi Arabia, withdrew recognition of the Taliban as Afghanistan's legal government, leaving neighbouring Pakistan as the only remaining country with diplomatic ties.

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On October 4, the Taliban agreed to turn bin Laden over to Pakistan for trial in an international tribunal[68] thatoperated according to Islamic Sharia law, but Pakistan blocked the offer as it was not possible to guarantee hissafety.[69] On October 7, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan offered to detain bin Laden and try him under Islamiclaw if the U.S. made a formal request and presented the Taliban with evidence. A Bush administration official,speaking on condition of anonymity, rejected the Taliban offer, and stated that the U.S. would not negotiate theirdemands.[70]

Coalition attack

Still on October 7, and less than one month after the Twin Towers fell, the U.S., aided by the United Kingdom,Canada, and other countries including several from the NATO alliance, initiated military action, bombing Talibanand Al-Qaeda-related camps.[71] [72] The stated intent of military operations was to remove the Taliban from power,and prevent the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations.[73]

The CIA's elite Special Activities Division (SAD) units were the first U.S. forces to enter Afghanistan (noting thatmany different countries intelligence agencies were on the ground or operating within theatre before SAD, and thatSAD are not technically military forces, but civilian paramilitaries). They joined with the Afghan United Front(Northern Alliance) to prepare for the subsequent arrival of U.S. Special Operations forces. The United Front(Northern Alliance) and SAD and Special Forces combined to overthrow the Taliban with minimal coalitioncasualties, and without the use of international conventional ground forces. The Washington Post stated in aneditorial by John Lehman in 2006:

What made the Afghan campaign a landmark in the U.S. Military's history is that it was prosecuted bySpecial Operations forces from all the services, along with Navy and Air Force tactical power,operations by the Afghan Northern Alliance and the CIA were equally important and fully integrated.No large Army or Marine force was employed.[74]

On October 14, the Taliban offered to discuss handing over Osama bin Laden to a neutral country in return for abombing halt, but only if the Taliban were given evidence of bin Laden's involvement.[75] The U.S. rejected thisoffer, and continued military operations. Mazari Sharif fell November 9, triggering a cascade of provinces fallingwith minimal resistance. Many local forces switched loyalties from the Taliban to the Northern Alliance. On thenight of November 12, the Taliban retreated south from Kabul. On November 15, they released eight Western aidworkers after three months in captivity. By November 13, the Taliban had withdrawn from both Kabul andJalalabad. Finally, in early December, the Taliban gave up Kandahar, their last stronghold, dispersing withoutsurrendering.

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Resurgence

US propaganda flyer offering individuals "wealthand power beyond your dreams" and "millions of

dollars" for working against the Taliban

Before the summer 2006 offensive began, indications existed thatsoldiers in Afghanistan had lost influence and power to other groups,including potentially the Taliban. A notable sign was rioting in Mayafter a street accident in the city of Kabul.[76] [77]

The continued support from tribal and other groups in Pakistan, thedrug trade, and the small number of NATO forces, combined with thelong history of resistance and isolation, indicated that Taliban forcesand leaders were surviving. Suicide attacks and other terrorist methodsnot used in 2001 became more common. Observers suggested thatpoppy eradication, which destroys the livelihoods of rural Afghans,and civilian deaths caused by airstrikes encouraged the resurgence.These observers maintained that policy should focus on "hearts andminds" and on economic reconstruction, which could profit fromswitching from interdicting to diverting poppy production—to makemedicine.[78] [79]

In September 2006, Pakistan recognized the Islamic Emirate of Waziristan, an association of Waziristani chieftainswith close ties to the Taliban, as the de facto security force for Waziristan. This recognition was part of theagreement to end the Waziristan War, which had exacted a heavy toll on the Pakistan Army since early 2004. Somecommentators viewed Islamabad's shift from war to diplomacy as implicit recognition of the growing power of theresurgent Taliban relative to American influence, with the U.S. distracted by the threat of looming crises in Iraq,Lebanon, and Iran.

Other commentators viewed Islamabad's shift from war to diplomacy as an effort to appease growing discontent.[80]

Because of the Taliban's leadership structure, Mullah Dadullah's targeted killing in May 2007 did not have asignificant effect, other than to damage incipient relations with Pakistan.[81]

By 2009, a strong resistance was created, known as Operation Al Faath, the Arabic word for "victory" taken from theKoran.,[82] [83] [84] in the form of a guerrilla war. The Pashtun tribal group, with over 40 million members (includingAfghanis and Pakistanis) had a long history of resistance to occupation forces, so the Taliban may have comprisedonly a part of the insurgency. Most post-invasion Taliban fighters were new recruits, mostly drawn from localmadrasas.In early December, the Taliban offered to give the U.S. "legal guarantees" that it would not allow Afghanistan to beused for attacks on other countries. The U.S. ignored the offer, and continued military action.[85]

Targeted killings

Predator drone

The United States and United Kingdom have used targeted killings,mainly by SOF forces, and sometimes by drones, to kill Talibanleaders. British forces also used similar tactics, as well as UnitedKingdom Special Forces, to eliminate individual Taliban commanders,mostly in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Among the more notable ofthe targeted killings of Taliban:

• In June 2004, the U.S. killed Nek Muhammad Wazir, a Talibancommander and al-Qaeda facilitator, along with five others, in anapparent Predator missile strike in South Waziristan, Pakistan.[86]

[87] [88]

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• In November 2008, Rashid Rauf, British/Pakistani suspected planner of a 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot, waskilled by a missile launched from a U.S. drone on the well-guarded compound of a Taliban commander in NorthWaziristan, carried out by the CIA's Special Activities Division.[89] [90]

• In August 2009, Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Taliban umbrella group, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),which he formed from an alliance of about five pro-Taliban groups, who was thought to have commanded up to5,000 fighters and to have been behind numerous attacks in Pakistan including the assassination of BenazirBhutto, was killed (along with a Taliban lieutenant, seven bodyguards, his wife, and his mother- andfather-in-law) in a U.S. CIA Special Activities Division drone missile attack on his father-in-law's house in SouthWaziristan, where he was staying.[91] [92] [93] [94] [95] [96] [97]

• During Operation Herrick since 2002, British special forces killed at least 50 high and local Taliban commandersin targeted killings in Helmand Province, which in the U.K. was received both positively and negatively by themedia. One specific killing, by Corporal Craig Harrison of the Household Cavalry, though initially a classifiedoperation, was later revealed to have broken the record for longest confirmed sniper kill, at a range of 2,475 m(2,707 yd).[98]

• According to Guantanamo Bay charge sheets, the United States Department of Defense believes the Talibanmaintains a 40-man undercover unit called "Jihad Kandahar", which is used for undercover operations includingassassination.[99]

Civilian casualties

According to a report by the United Nations, the Taliban were responsible for 76 % of civilian casualties inAfghanistan in 2009.[17]

Colonel Richard Kemp, former Commander ofBritish Forces in Afghanistan

According to Human Rights Watch, the Taliban's bombings and otherattacks which have led to civilian casualties "sharply escalated in2006" when "at least 669 Afghan civilians were killed in at least 350armed attacks, most of which appear to have been intentionallylaunched at non-combatants."[100] [101] By 2008, the Taliban hadincreased its use of suicide bombers and targeted unarmed civilian aidworkers, such as Gayle Williams.[102]

The United Nations reported that the number of civilians killed by boththe Taliban and pro-government forces in the war rose nearly 50%between 2007 and 2009. In the first half of 2008, the Taliban killed 495civilians, and the allies 276.[103] The high number of civilians killed bythe Taliban is blamed in part on their increasing use of improvisedexplosive devices (IEDs), "for instance, 16 IEDs have been planted ingirls' schools" by the Taliban.[103]

Criticism of tactics and strategy

In 2009, Colonel Richard Kemp, formerly Commander of Britishforces in Afghanistan and the intelligence coordinator for the Britishgovernment, drew parallels between the tactics and strategy of Hamasin Gaza to those of the Taliban. Kemp wrote:

Like Hamas in Gaza, the Taliban in southern Afghanistan are masters at shielding themselves behind thecivilian population and then melting in among them for protection. Women and children are trained andequipped to fight, collect intelligence, and ferry arms and ammunition between battles. Female suicide

bombers are increasingly common. The use of women to shield gunmen as they engage NATO forces is now so normal it is deemed barely worthy of comment. Schools and houses are routinely booby-trapped.

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Snipers shelter in houses deliberately filled with women and children.[104] [105]

Ideology

OverviewThe Taliban initially enjoyed goodwill from Afghans weary of the warlords' corruption, brutality, and incessantfighting.[106] However, this popularity was not universal, particularly among non-Pashtuns.The Taliban's extremely strict and anti-modern ideology has been described as an "innovative form of shariacombining Pashtun tribal codes,"[107] or Pashtunwali, with radical Deobandi interpretations of Islam favored by JUIand its splinter groups. Also contributing to the mix was the jihadism and pan-Islamism of Osama bin Laden.[108]

Their ideology was a departure from the Islamism of the anti-Soviet mujahideen rulers they replaced who tended tobe mystical Sufis, traditionalists, or radical Islamicists inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan).[109]

Under the Taliban regime, Sharia law was interpreted to forbid a wide variety of previously lawful activities inAfghanistan. One Taliban list of prohibitions included: pork, pig, pig oil, anything made from human hair, satellitedishes, 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.[110] They also got rid of employment, education,and sports for all women, dancing, clapping during sports events, kite flying, and characterizations of living things,no matter if they were drawings, paintings, photographs, stuffed animals, or dolls. Men had to have a fist size beardat the bottom of their chin. Conversely, they had to wear their head hair short. Men had to wear a head covering.[111]

Many of these activities were hitherto lawful in Afghanistan. Critics complained that most Afghans followed adifferent, less strict, and less intrusive interpretation of Islam. The Taliban did not eschew all traditional popularpractices. For example, they did not destroy the graves of Sufi pirs (holy men), and emphasized dreams as a meansof revelation.[112]

Taliban have been described as both anti-nationalist and Pushtun nationalist. According to journalist Ahmed Rashid,at least in the first years of their rule, they adopted Deobandi and Islamist anti-nationalist beliefs, and opposed "tribaland feudal structures," eliminating traditional tribal or feudal leaders from leadership roles.[113] According to Ali A.Jalali and Lester Grau, the Taliban "received extensive support from Pashtuns across the country who thought thatthe movement might restore their national dominance. Even Pashtun intellectuals in the West, who differed with theTaliban on many issues, expressed support for the movement on purely ethnic grounds."[114]

Like Wahhabi and other Deobandis, the Taliban do not consider Shiʻi to be Muslims. The Shia in Afghanistanconsist mostly of the Hazara ethnic group which totaled almost 10% of Afghanistan's population.[115]

The Taliban were averse to debating doctrine with other Muslims. "The Taliban did not allow even Muslim reportersto question [their] edicts or to discuss interpretations of the Qur'an."[116]

Taliban 12

Treatment of women

Taliban religious police beating a woman inKabul on August 26, 2001.[117]

The Taliban forced women to wear the burqa in public.[118] They wereallowed neither to work nor to be educated after the age of eight, anduntil then were permitted only to study the Qur'an.[11] They were notallowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a malechaperon, which led to illnesses remaining untreated. They facedpublic flogging in the street, and public execution for violations of theTaliban's laws.[36]

Employment for women was restricted to the medical sector, becausemale medical personnel were not allowed to look at them. One result ofthe banning of employment of women by the Taliban was the closingdown in places like Kabul of primary schools not only for girls but for boys, because almost all the teachers therewere women.[119] Women were required to wear the burqa, a traditional dress covering the entire body except for asmall screen to see out of. Taliban restrictions became more severe after they took control of the capital. In February1998, religious police forced all women off the streets of Kabul, and issued new regulations ordering people toblacken their windows, so that women would not be visible from the outside.[120]

Bamyan Buddhas

Destruction of Bamyan Buddha statues by theTaliban

In 1999, Mullah Omar issued a decree protecting the Buddha statues atBamyan, two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhascarved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley in the Hazarajatregion of central Afghanistan. He did this because Afghanistan had noBuddhists, so idolatry would not be a problem. But in March 2001 thestatues were destroyed by the Taliban of Mullah Omar following adecree stating: "all the statues around Afghanistan must bedestroyed."[121]

Yahya Massoud, brother of the anti-Taliban and resistance leaderAhmad Shah Massoud, recalls the following incident after thedestruction of the Buddha statues at Bamyan:

"It was the spring of 2001. I was in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley, together with my brother Ahmad ShahMassoud, the leader of the Afghan resistance against the Taliban, and Bismillah Khan, who currently servesas Afghanistan's interior minister. One of our commanders, Commandant Momin, wanted us to see 30 Talibanfighters who had been taken hostage after a gun battle. My brother agreed to meet them.

I remember that his first question concerned the centuries-old Buddha statues that were dynamited by theTaliban in March of that year, shortly before our encounter. Two Taliban combatants from Kandaharconfidently responded that worshiping anything outside of Islam was unacceptable and that therefore thesestatues had to be destroyed. My brother looked at them and said, this time in Pashto, 'There are still many sun-worshippers in this country. Will you also try to get rid of the sun and drop darkness over the Earth?'"''[122]

Taliban 13

Explanation of ideologyThe author Ahmed Rashid suggests that the devastation and hardship of the Soviet invasion and the following periodinfluenced Taliban ideology.[123] The Taliban were often "barely literate," and did not include scholars learned inIslamic law and history. The refugee students, brought up in a totally male society, not only had no education inmathematics, science, history or geography, but also had no traditional skills of farming, herding, orhandicraft-making, nor even knowledge of their tribal and clan lineages.[123] In such an environment, war meantemployment, peace meant unemployment. Dominating women simply affirmed manhood. For their leadership, rigidfundamentalism was a matter not only of principle, but of political survival. Taliban leaders "repeatedly told" Rashidthat "if they gave women greater freedom or a chance to go to school, they would lose the support of their rank andfile."[124]

Public execution of woman known as Zarmina bythe Taliban at the Ghazi Sports Stadium, Kabul,

November 16, 1999. The mother of five had beenfound guilty of killing her husband while he slept,

after being beaten by him.[125] [126]

Criticisms

The Taliban were criticized for their strictness toward those whodisobeyed their imposed rules. Many Muslims complained that mostTaliban rules had no basis in the Qur'an or sharia. Mullah Omar's titleas Amir al-Mu'minin was criticized on the grounds that he lackedscholarly learning, tribal pedigree, or connections to the Prophet'sfamily. Sanction for the title traditionally required the support of all ofthe country's ulema, whereas only some 1,200 PashtunTaliban-supporting Mullahs had declared Omar the Amir. "No Afghanhad adopted the title since 1834, when King Dost Mohammed Khanassumed the title before he declared jihad against the Sikh kingdom inPeshawar. But Dost Mohammed was fighting foreigners, while Omarhad declared jihad against other Afghans."[127]

Another criticism was that the Taliban called their 20% tax on truckloads of opium "zakat", which is traditionallylimited to 2.5% of the zakat-payers' disposable income (or wealth).[127]

The Taliban have also been accused of being hypocritical, as intelligence picked up by Predator drones and otherbattlefield cameras is at odds with the notion that they are pious warriors of God. Thermal-imagery technologyhoused in a sniper rifle and ground-surveillance footage showed and recorded separate Taliban in southernAfghanistan committing bestiality.[128]

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Governance

Overview

Taliban in Herat

Rashid described the Taliban government as "a secret society run byKandaharis ... mysterious, secretive, and dictatorial."[129] They did nothold elections, as their spokesman explained:

The Sharia does not allow politics or political parties. Thatis why we give no salaries to officials or soldiers, justfood, clothes, shoes, and weapons. We want to live a lifelike the Prophet lived 1400 years ago, and jihad is ourright. We want to recreate the time of the Prophet, and weare only carrying out what the Afghan people have wantedfor the past 14 years.[130]

They modeled their decision-making process on the Pashtun tribalcouncil (jirga), together with what they believed to be the early Islamicmodel. Discussion was followed by a building of a consensus by the"believers".[131] Before capturing Kabul, there was talk of steppingaside once a government of "good Muslims" took power, and law andorder were restored.

As the Taliban's power grew, decisions were made by Mullah Omar without consulting the jirga and withoutconsulting other parts of the country. He visited the capital, Kabul, only twice while in power. Instead of an election,their leader's legitimacy came from an oath of allegiance ("Bay'ah"), in imitation of the Prophet and the first fourCaliphs. On April 4, 1996, Mullah Omar had "the Cloak of the Prophet Mohammed" taken from its shrine for thefirst time in 60 years. Wrapping himself in the relic, he appeared on the roof of a building in the center of Kandaharwhile hundreds of Pashtun mullahs below shouted "Amir al-Mu'minin!" (Commander of the Faithful), in a pledge ofsupport. Taliban spokesman Mullah Wakil explained:

Decisions are based on the advice of the Amir-ul Momineen. For us consultation is not necessary. Webelieve 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 thehighest authority, and the government will not be able to implement any decision to which he does notagree. General elections are incompatible with Sharia and therefore we reject them.[132]

The Taliban were very reluctant to share power, and since their ranks were overwhelmingly Pashtun they ruled asoverlords over the 60% of Afghans from other ethnic groups. In local government, such as Kabul city council[129] orHerat,[133] Taliban loyalists, not locals, dominated, even when the Pashto-speaking Taliban could not communicatewith the roughly half of the population who spoke Dari or other non-Pashtun tongues.[133] Critics complained thatthis "lack of local representation in urban administration made the Taliban appear as an occupying force."[134]

Taliban 15

Organization

Taliban insurgents in northern Afghanistan afterthey surrendered to the Afghan National Police.

Consistent with the governance of early Muslims was the absence ofstate institutions or "a methodology for command and control" that isstandard today even among non-Westernized states. The Taliban didnot issue press releases, policy statements, or hold regular pressconferences. The outside world and most Afghans did not even knowwhat their leaders looked like, since photography was banned.[135] The"regular army" resembled a lashkar or traditional tribal militia forcewith only 25,000 men (of whom 11,000 where non-Afghans).

Cabinet ministers and deputies were mullahs with a "madrasaheducation." Several of them, such as the Minister of Health andGovernor of the State bank, were primarily military commanders wholeft their administrative posts to fight when needed. Military reverses that trapped them behind lines or led to theirdeaths increased the chaos in the national administration.[136] At the national level, "all senior Tajik, Uzbek andHazara bureaucrats" were replaced "with Pashtuns, whether qualified or not." Consequently, the ministries "by andlarge ceased to function."[134]

The Ministry of Finance had neither a budget nor "qualified economist or banker." Mullah Omar collected anddispersed cash without book-keeping.

ConscriptionAccording to the testimony of Guantanamo captives before their Combatant Status Review Tribunals, the Taliban, inaddition to conscripting men to serve as soldiers, also conscripted men to staff its civil service.

Economy

Ariana airlinesAriana Afghan Airlines was a key node in Al Qaeda's infrastructure, which was to move money, personnel andmateriel.[137]

According to the Los Angeles Times:[137]

With the Taliban's blessing, Bin Laden effectively had hijacked Ariana, the national civilian airline ofAfghanistan. For four years, according to former U.S. aides and exiled Afghan officials, Ariana's passengerand charter flights ferried Islamic militants, arms, cash and opium through the United Arab Emirates andPakistan. Members of Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network were provided false Ariana identification thatgave them free run of airports in the Middle East.

Taliban 16

Opium

Opium in alleged Taliban safehouse in Helmand

Opium poppies are a traditional crop in Afghanistan, and, with the warshattering other sectors of the economy, opium became its largestexport.

"The Taliban have provided an Islamic sanction forfarmers ... to grow even more opium, even though theKoran forbids Muslims from producing or imbibingintoxicants. Abdul Rashid, the head of the Taliban'santi-drugs control force in Kandahar, spelled out thenature of his unique job. He is authorized to impose astrict ban on the growing of hashish, "because it isconsumed by Afghans and Muslims." But, Rashid told me without a hint of sarcasm, "Opium ispermissible because it is consumed by kafirs in the West, and not by Muslims or Afghans."[138]

In 2000 Afghanistan's opium production accounted for 75% of the world's supply. On July 27, 2000, the Talibanissued a decree banning cultivation.[139] By February 2001, production had reportedly been reduced from 12600acres (51 km2) to only 17 acres (7 ha).[140] Opium production was reportedly cut back by the Taliban not to preventits use, but to increase its price, and thus increase the income of Afghan poppy farmers and tax revenue.[141]

In October 2009 an article, citing "American and Afghan officials", appeared in The New York Times stating that theTaliban derive important funding from the opium trade but other sources such as foreign donations providemore.[142]

DeforestationThe so-called "transportation mafia" operating out of Pakistan working with the Taliban "cut down millions of acresof timber in Afghanistan for the Pakistani market, denuding the countryside without attempting reforestation. Theystripped rusting factories, ... even electricity and telephone poles for their steel and sold the scrap to steel mills inLahore."[143]

Emerald minesThe Taliban took over emerald mines in Pakistan's Swat valley (not a tribal area), once the 'Switzerland of Pakistan',a popular tourist area for skiers. The government did not react to the move. The Taliban reached an agreement withthe region's mining labor allowing the Taliban to keep one-third of the miners' output, while equally sharing costs.The Taliban does not take part in the mining operations.[144]

Business dealingsIn 1997, the Taliban and Unocal negotiated arrangements for CentGas to build a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan toPakistan.[145] Reportedly, a deal was struck but later collapsed,[146] rumored to be because of competing negotiationswith Bridas, an Argentine company.[147]

International relationsDuring its time in power, the Taliban regime, or "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan", gained diplomatic recognitionfrom only three states: the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, all of which provided substantial aid.The other nations including the United Nations recognized the government of the Islamic State of Afghanistan (partsof whom were part of the United Front (Northern Alliance) as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

Taliban 17

PakistanThe "vast majority" of the Taliban's rank and file and most of the leadership, though not Mullah Omar, were Koranicstudents who had studied at madrasas set up for Afghan refugees, usually by JUI. Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, JUI'sleader, was a political ally of Benazir Bhutto. After Bhutto became prime minister, Rehman "had access to thegovernment, the army and the ISI," whom he influenced to help the Taliban.[148]

Pakistan's ISI supported the previously unknown Kandahari student movement,[149] the Taliban, as the groupconquered Afghanistan in the 1990s.[150]

From 1994 onwards Pakistan has been the force behind the Taliban. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf – then asChief of Army Staff – was responsible for sending thousands of Pakistanis to fight alongside the Taliban and BinLaden against the forces of Massoud.[12] [44] [45] [15] In total there were believed to be 28,000 Pakistani nationalsfighting inside Afghanistan.[15] 20,000 were regular Pakistani soldiers either from the Frontier Corps or army and anestimated 8,000 were militants recruited in madrassas filling regular Taliban ranks.[13] The estimated 25,000 Talibanregular force thus comprised more than 8,000 Pakistani nationals.[13] [46] A 1998 document by the U.S. StateDepartment confirms that "20–40 percent of [regular] Taliban soldiers are Pakistani."[12] The document further statesthat the parents of those Pakistani nationals "know nothing regarding their child's military involvement with theTaliban until their bodies are brought back to Pakistan."[12] Further 3,000 fighters of the regular Taliban army wereArab and Central Asian militants.[13] Of roughly 45,000 Pakistani, Taliban and Al Qaeda soldiers fighting against theforces of Massoud only 14,000 were Afghan.[13] [15]

Human Rights Watch also writes, "Pakistani aircraft assisted with troop rotations of Taliban forces during combatoperations in late 2000 and ... senior members of Pakistan's intelligence agency and army were involved in planningmilitary operations."[151] Pakistan provided military equipment, recruiting assistance, training, and tacticaladvice.[152] Officially Pakistan denied supporting the Taliban militarily.Author Ahmed Rashid claims that the Taliban had "unprecedented access" among Pakistan's lobbies and interestgroups. He also writes that they at times were able to "play off one lobby against another and extend their influencein Pakistan even further".[153] By 1998–99, Taliban-style groups in Pakistan's Pashtun belt, and to an extent inPakistan-administered Kashmir, "were banning TV and videos ... and forcing people, particularly women, to adapt tothe Taliban dress code and way of life."[154]

After the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the U.S. operation in Afghanistan the Afghan Taliban leadership haslargely fled to Pakistan where they regrouped and created several shuras to coordinate their insurgency inAfghanistan. On February 8, 2009, U.S. commander of operations in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal andother officials said that the Taliban leadership was in Quetta, Pakistan, though the Pakistani government, an officialU.S. ally, denied this.[16]

From 2010, a report by a leading British institution claimed that Pakistan's intelligence service still today has astrong link with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Published by the London School of Economics, the report said thatPakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) has an "official policy" of support for the Taliban. It said the ISIprovides funding and training for the Taliban, and that the agency has representatives on the so-called Quetta Shura,the Taliban's leadership council, which is believed to meet in Pakistan. The report, based on interviews with Talibancommanders in Afghanistan, was written by Matt Waldman, a fellow at Harvard University.[155]

"Pakistan appears to be playing a double-game of astonishing magnitude," the report said. The report also linked high-level members of the Pakistani government with the Taliban. It said Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, met with senior Taliban prisoners in 2010 and promised to release them. Zardari reportedly told the detainees they were only arrested because of American pressure. "The Pakistan government's apparent duplicity – and awareness of it among the American public and political establishment – could have enormous geopolitical implications," Waldman said. "Without a change in Pakistani behaviour it will be difficult if not impossible for international forces and the Afghan government to make progress against the insurgency." Afghan officials have long been suspicious of the ISI's role. Amrullah Saleh, the former director of Afghanistan's intelligence service, told Reuters that the ISI was

Taliban 18

"part of a landscape of destruction in this country".[156]

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistani Taliban)Before the creation of the Tehrik-i-Taliban(Pakistan), some of their leaders and fighters were part of the 8,000Pakistani militants fighting in the War in Afghanistan (1996-2001) and the War in Afghanistan (2001-present)against the United Islamic Front and NATO forces.[13] Most of them hail from the Pakistani side of the Af-Pakborder regions. After the fall of the Afghan Taliban in late 2001 most Pakistani militants including members oftoday's TTP fled home to Pakistan.After the creation of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in 2007, headed by Baitullah Mehsud,[157] its members haveofficially defined goals to establish their rule over Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas. They engage thePakistani army in heavy combat operations. Some intelligence analysts believe that the TTP's attacks on thePakistani government, police and army strained the TTP's relations with the Afghan Taliban.[158] [159]

The Afghan Taliban and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan differ greatly in their history, leadership and goals althoughthey share a common interpretation of Islam and are both predominantly Pashtun.[158] The Afghan Taliban have noaffiliation with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and routinely deny any connection to the TTP. The New York Timesquoted a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban stating that:

"We don't like to be involved with them, as we have rejected all affiliation with Pakistani Taliban fighters ...We have sympathy for them as Muslims, but beside that, there is nothing else between us."[160]

The Afghan Taliban have always relied on support by the Pakistani army in the past and are still supported by themtoday in their campaign to control Afghanistan.[12] [14] Regular Pakistani army troops fought alongside the AfghanTaliban in the War in Afghanistan (1996-2001).[15] Major leaders of the Afghan Taliban including Mullah Omar,Jalaluddin Haqqani and Siraj Haqqani are believed to enjoy safe haven in Pakistan.[14] In 2006 Jalaluddin Haqqaniwas called a 'Pakistani asset' by a senior official of Inter-Services Intelligence.[14] Pakistan regards the Haqqani's asan important force for protecting its interests in Afghanistan and therefore have been unwilling to move againstthem.[14]

Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar asked the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in late 2008 and early 2009 to stop attacksinside Pakistan, to change their focus as an organization and to fight the Afghan National Army and ISAF forces inAfghanistan instead.[160] In late December 2008 and early January 2009 he sent a delegation, led by formerGuantanamo Bay detainee Mullah Abdullah Zakir, to persuade leading members of the TTP to put aside differenceswith Pakistan.[160]

Some regional experts state the common name "Taliban" may be more misleading than illuminating.[158] GillesDorronsoro, a scholar of South Asia currently at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washingtonsays:

"The fact that they have the same name causes all kinds of confusion."[158]

As the Pakistani Army began offensives against the Pakistani Taliban, many unfamiliar with the region thoughtincorrectly that the assault was against the Afghan Taliban of Mullah Omar which was not the case.[158]

The Pakistani Taliban was put under sanctions by U.N. Security Council for terrorists attacks in Pakistan and 2010Times Square car bombing attempt.[159]

Malakand TalibanMalakand Taliban is militant outfit led by Sufi Muhammad and his son in law Molvi Fazalullah.[161] Sufi Muhammad is in government custody, however, Molvi Fazalullah is believed to be in Afghanistan.[161] In the last week of May 2011, eight security personnel and civilians fell victim to four hundred armed Taliban who attacked Shaltalo check post in Dir, a frontier District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, located few kilometers away from Afghan border.[161] Although, they have been linked with Waziristan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), however, the

Taliban 19

connection between these two groups is of symbolic nature.[161]

Al QaedaIn 1996, bin Laden moved to Afghanistan from Sudan. He came without invitation, and sometimes irritated MullahOmar with his declaration of war and fatwas against citizens of third-party countries,[162] but relations between thetwo groups improved over time, to the point that Mullah Omar rebuffed his group's patron Saudi Arabia, insultingSaudi minister Prince Turki while reneging on an earlier promise to turn bin Laden over to the Saudis.[163]

Bin Laden was able to forge an alliance between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The Al Qaeda-trained 055 Brigadeintegrated with the Taliban army between 1997 and 2001. Several hundred Arab Afghan fighters sent by bin Ladenassisted the Taliban in the Mazar-e-Sharif slaughter.[164] The so-called Brigade 055 was also responsible formassacres against civilians in other parts of Afghanistan.[13] From 1996 to 2001 the organization of Osama BinLaden and Ayman al-Zawahiri had become a virtual state within the Taliban state.Taliban-Al-Qaeda connections were also strengthened by the reported marriage of one of bin Laden's sons to Omar'sdaughter. While in Afghanistan, bin Laden may have helped finance the Taliban.[165] [166]

After the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, bin Laden and several Al-Qaeda members were indicted in U.S.criminal court.[167] The Taliban rejected extradition requests by the U.S., variously claiming that bin Laden had"gone missing",[168] or that Washington "cannot provide any evidence or any proof" that bin Laden is involved interrorist activities and that "without any evidence, bin Laden is a man without sin... he is a free man."[67] [169]

Evidence against bin Laden included courtroom testimony and satellite phone records.[170] [171] Bin Laden in turn,praised the Taliban as the "only Islamic government" in existence, and lauded Mullah Omar for his destruction ofidols such as the Buddhas of Bamyan.[172]

At the end of 2008, the Taliban was in talks to sever all ties with Al-Qaeda.[173]

In 2011, Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn at New York University's Center on International Cooperationproclaimed that the two groups did not get along at times before the September 11 attacks, and they have continuedto spar since. Contrary to the established perception that they are of one mind, the Taliban and al-Qaeda are not inlockstep. In fact, the Taliban in Afghanistan could be persuaded to renounce the infamous terrorist group led byOsama bin Laden.[174]

IranIran has historically been an enemy of the Taliban. In early August 1998, after attacking the city of Mazar, Talibanforces 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.[175] In the following crisis betweenIran and the Taliban, the Iranian government amassed up to 200,000 regular troops on the Afghan-Iranianborder.[176] War was eventually averted.Many U.S. senior military officials such as Robert Gates,[177] Stanley McChrystal,[178] David Petraeus[179] andothers believe that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps nowadays is involved in helping the Taliban to a certainextent. Reports in which NATO states accused Iran of supplying and training some Taliban insurgents startedcoming forward since 2004/2005.

"We did interdict a shipment, without question the Revolutionary Guard's core Quds Force, through a knownTaliban facilitator. Three of the individuals were killed... 48 122 millimetre rockets were intercepted with theirvarious components... Iranians certainly view as making life more difficult for us if Afghanistan is unstable.We don't have that kind of relationship with the Iranians. That's why I am particularly troubled by theinterception of weapons coming from Iran. But we know that it's more than weapons; it's money; it's alsoaccording to some reports, training at Iranian camps as well."[180]

—General David Petraeus, Commander of US-NATO forces in Afghanistan, March 16, 2011

Taliban 20

United StatesForeign powers, including the United States, briefly supported the Taliban, hoping it would restore order in thewar-ravaged country. For example, it made no comment when the Taliban captured Herat in 1995, and expelledthousands of girls from schools.[181] These hopes faded as the Taliban began killing unarmed civilians, targetingethnic groups (primarily Hazaras), and restricting the rights of women.[107] In late 1997, American Secretary of StateMadeleine Albright began to distance the U.S. from the Taliban. The next year, the American-based oil companyUnocal withdrew from negotiations on pipeline construction from Central Asia.[182]

One day before the capture of Mazar, bin Laden affiliates bombed two U.S. embassies in Africa, killing 224 andwounding 4,500, mostly Africans. The U.S. responded by launching cruise missiles on suspected terrorist camps inAfghanistan, killing over 20 though failing to kill bin Laden or even many Al-Qaeda. Mullah Omar condemned themissile attack and American President Bill Clinton.[183] Saudi Arabia expelled the Taliban envoy in protest over therefusal to turn over bin Laden, and after Mullah Omar allegedly insulted the Saudi royal family.[184] In mid-Octoberthe U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to ban commercial aircraft flights to and from Afghanistan, and freezeits bank accounts worldwide.[185]

Adjusting its counterinsurgency strategy, in October 2009, the U.S announced plans to pay Taliban fighters to switchsides.[186]

On November 26, 2009, in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, President Hamid Karzai said there is an"urgent need" for negotiations with the Taliban, and made it clear that the Obama administration had opposed suchtalks. There was no formal American response.[187] [188]

In early December 2009, the Taliban offered to give the U.S. "legal guarantees" that they would not allowAfghanistan to be used for attacks on other countries. There was no formal American response.[85]

On December 6, U.S officials indicated that they have not ruled out talks with the Taliban.[189] Several days later itwas reported that Gates saw potential for reconciliation with the Taliban, but not with Al-Qaeda. Furthermore, hesaid that reconciliation would politically end the insurgency and the war. But he said reconciliation must be on theAfghan government's terms, and that the Taliban must be subject to the sovereignty of the government.[190]

In 2010, General McChrystal said his troop surge could lead to a negotiated peace with the Taliban.[191]

Allegations of connection to CIA There have been many claims that the CIA directly supported the Taliban orAl-Qaeda. In the early 1980s, the CIA and the ISI (Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency) provided arms andmoney, and the ISI helped gather radical Muslims from around the world to fight against the Soviet invaders.[192]

Osama Bin Laden was one of the key players in organizing training camps for the foreign Muslim volunteers. "By1987, 65,000 tons of U.S.-made weapons and ammunition a year were entering the war."

United KingdomAfter 9/11, the United Kingdom froze the Taliban's assets in the U.K., nearly $200 million by early October2001.[193] The U.K. also supported the U.S. decision to remove the Taliban, both politically and militarily.[194]

The UN agreed that NATO would act on its behalf, focusing on counter-terrorist operations in Afghanistan after theTaliban had been "defeated". The United Kingdom took operational responsibility for Helmand Province, a majorpoppy-growing province in southern Afghanistan, deploying troops there in the summer of 2006, and encounteredresistance by re-formed Taliban forces entering Afghanistan from Pakistan. The Taliban turned towards the use ofimprovised explosive devices.[195]

In 2008, the U.K. announced plans to pay Taliban fighters to switch sides or lay down arms;[196] later, in 2009 theUnited Kingdom government backed talks with the Taliban.[197]

Taliban 21

IndiaIndia is one of the Taliban's most outspoken critics. India was concerned about growing Islamic militancy in itsneighborhood, and refused to recognize the Taliban regime.[198] Ahmad Shah Massoud also had close ties toIndia.[199]

In December 1999, Indian Airlines Flight 814 en route from Kathmandu to Delhi was hijacked and taken toKandahar. The Taliban moved its militias near the hijacked aircraft, supposedly to prevent Indian special forces fromstorming the aircraft, and stalled the negotiations between India and the hijackers for days. The New York Times laterreported that there were credible links between the hijackers and the Taliban.[200] As a part of the deal to free theplane, India released three militants. The Taliban gave a safe passage to the hijackers and the released militants.[201]

Following the hijacking, India drastically increased its efforts to help Massoud, providing an arms depot inDushanbe, Tajikistan.[202] India also provided a wide range of high-altitude warfare equipment, helicoptertechnicians, medical services, and tactical advice.[203] According to one report, Indian military support toanti-Taliban forces totaled US$70 million, including five Mi-17 helicopters, and US$8 million worth of high-altitudeequipment in 2001.[204] India extensively supported the new administration in Afghanistan,[205] leading severalreconstruction projects[206] and by 2001 had emerged as the country's largest regional donor.[207]

In the wake of recent terrorist attacks in India, there have been growing concerns about fundamentalist organisationssuch as the Taliban seeking to expand their activities into India. During the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup which wasco-hosted in India, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Interpol chief Ronald Noble revealed that aterrorist bid to disrupt the tournament had been foiled; following a conference with Noble, Malik said that theTaliban had begun to base their activities in India with reports from neighboring countries exposing their activities inthe country and a Sri Lankan terrorist planning to target cricketers was arrested in Colombo.[208] [209] [210]

Kashmir-based militant groups thought to have ties with the Taliban have historically been involved in the Jammuand Kashmir insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir.[211] In 2009, the Times of India called for India to reassessits Taliban threat.[212]

United Nations and NGOsA major issue during the Taliban's reign was its relations with the United Nations (UN) and non-governmentalorganizations (NGOs). Twenty years of continuous warfare had devastated Afghanistan's infrastructure andeconomy. There was no running water, little electricity, few telephones, functioning roads or regular energy supplies.Basic necessities like water, food, housing and others were in desperately short supply. In addition, the clan andfamily structure that provided Afghans with a social/economic safety net was also badly damaged.[116] [213]

Afghanistan's infant mortality was the highest in the world. A full quarter of all children died before they reachedtheir fifth birthday, a rate several times higher than most other developing countries.[214]

International charitable and/or development organisations (NGOs) were extremely important to the supply of food,employment, reconstruction, and other services. With one million plus deaths during the years of war, the number offamilies headed by widows had reached 98,000 by 1998.[215] Thus Taliban restrictions on women were sometime amatter not only of human rights, but of life and death. In Kabul, where vast portions of the city had been devastatedfrom rocket attacks, more than half of its 1.2 million people benefited in some way from NGO activities, even forwater to drink.[216] The civil war and its never-ending refugee stream continued throughout the Taliban's reign. TheMazar, Herat, and Shomali valley offensives displaced more than three-quarters of a million civilians, using"scorched earth" tactics to prevent them from supplying the enemy with aid.[217]

Despite the aid, the Taliban's attitude toward the UN and NGOs was often one of suspicion, in place of gratitude oreven tolerance. The UN operates on the basis of international law, not Sharia, and the UN did not recognize theTaliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Additionally, most foreign donors and aid workers, werenon-Muslims. As the Taliban's Attorney General Maulvi Jalil-ullah Maulvizada put it:

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Let us state what sort of education the UN wants. This is a big infidel policy which gives such obscenefreedom to women which would lead to adultery and herald the destruction of Islam. In any Islamiccountry where adultery becomes common, that country is destroyed and enters the domination of theinfidels because their men become like women and women cannot defend themselves. Anyone whotalks to us should do so within Islam's framework. The Holy Koran cannot adjust itself to other people'srequirements, people should adjust themselves to the requirements of the Holy Koran.[218]

Taliban decision-makers, particularly Mullah Omar, seldom if ever talked directly to non-Muslim foreigners, so aidproviders had to deal with intermediaries whose approvals and agreements were often reversed.[134] AroundSeptember 1997 the heads of three UN agencies in Kandahar were expelled from the country after protesting when afemale attorney for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was forced to talk from behind a curtain so her facewould not be visible.[219]

When the UN increased the number of Muslim women staff to satisfy Taliban demands, the Taliban then required allfemale Muslim UN staff traveling to Afghanistan to be chaperoned by a mahram or a blood relative.[220] In July1998, the Taliban closed "all NGO offices" by force after those organizations refused to move to a bombed-outformer Polytechnic College as ordered.[221] One month later the UN offices were also shut down.[222] As food pricesrose and conditions deteriorated, Planning Minister Qari Din Mohammed explained the Taliban's indifference to theloss of humanitarian aid:

We Muslims believe God the Almighty will feed everybody one way or another. If the foreign NGOsleave then it is their decision. We have not expelled them.[223]

In 2009 a top U.N official called for talks with Taliban leaders.[224] In 2010 the U.N lifted sanctions on theTaliban,[225] and requested that Taliban leaders and others be removed from terrorism watch lists.[226] In 2010 theU.S. and Europe announced support for President Karzai's latest attempt to negotiate peace with the Taliban.[227]

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[4] "Analysis: Who are the Taleban?" (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 2/ hi/ south_asia/ 144382. stm). BBC News. December 20, 2000. .[5] ISAF has participating forces from 39 countries, including all 26 NATO members. See {{Cite document | publisher = NATO | url = http:/ /

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nwfp/ taliban-take-over-swat-emerald-mines--za) Dawn Media Group, 2009-03-25.[145] BBC, " Taliban in Texas for talks on gas pipeline (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 1/ hi/ world/ west_asia/ 37021. stm)".[146] BBC, Afghan Pipeline Deal Close (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 1/ hi/ world/ west_asia/ 21007. stm)".[147] BBC, " Taliban says it's ready to sign Turkmen pipeline deal (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 1/ hi/ world/ s/ w_asia/ 44521. stm)".[148] Rashid 2000, p. 26.[149] Julian West (September 23, 2001). "Pakistan's godfathers of the Taliban hold the key to the hunt for Bin Laden" (http:/ / www. telegraph.

co. uk/ news/ worldnews/ asia/ pakistan/ 1341405/ Pakistans-godfathers-of-the-Taliban-hold-the-key-to-hunt-for-bin-Laden. html). London:Daily Telegraph. .

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23taliban. html). The New York Times (The New York Times Company). . Retrieved 2011-01-26.[159] UNSC slaps sanctions on Pakistani Taliban (http:/ / www. rediff. com/ news/ report/ unsc-slaps-sanctions-on-pakistani-taliban/ 20110730.

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Sudanese.Wright 2006, pp. 222–223.[167] PDF of indictments (http:/ / fl1. findlaw. com/ news. findlaw. com/ hdocs/ docs/ binladen/ usbinladen1. pdf).[168] CNN report (http:/ / www. cnn. com/ WORLD/ meast/ 9902/ 13/ afghan. binladen. 02/ index. html).[169] BBC article stating that bin Laden in "a man without sin" (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 2/ hi/ south_asia/ 217947. stm).[170] CNN records of evidence against bin Laden (http:/ / archives. cnn. com/ 2001/ LAW/ 02/ 14/ embassy. bombing. 02/ index. html).[171] Cooperative Research records of evidence against bin Laden (http:/ / www. cooperativeresearch. org/ entity. jsp?entity=osama_bin_laden).[172] 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.[173] "Sources: Taliban split with al Qaeda, seek peace" (http:/ / edition. cnn. com/ 2008/ WORLD/ asiapcf/ 10/ 06/ afghan. saudi. talks/

?iref=mpstoryview). CNN. . Retrieved April 9, 2010.[174] Allgov.com (http:/ / www. allgov. com/ US_and_the_World/ ViewNews/ Surprise_Taliban_and_Al_Qaeda_are_Worlds_Apart_110209)[175] Rashid 2000, pp. 74–75.[176] Iranian-Afghan tensions. (http:/ / www. globalsecurity. org/ military/ library/ news/ 1998/ 09/ wwwh8915. html)[177] Gates Warns Iran Over Afghan "Double Game" (http:/ / www. cbsnews. com/ stories/ 2010/ 03/ 08/ world/ main6277025. shtml)[178] US General Accuses Iran Of Helping Taliban (http:/ / www. eagleworldnews. com/ 2010/ 05/ 31/

us-general-accuses-iran-of-helping-taliban/ )[179] Iran Is Helping Taliban in Afghanistan, Petraeus Says (Update1) (http:/ / www. bloomberg. com/ apps/ news?pid=newsarchive&

sid=aru5H2YB1Tv8& refer=india)[180] Jha, Lalit K (March 16, 2011). "Concern in US over increasing Iranian activity in Afghanistan" (http:/ / www. pajhwok. com/ en/ 2011/ 03/

16/ concern-us-over-increasing-iranian-activity-afghanistan). Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN). . Retrieved 2011-01-13.[181] Rashid 2000, p. 177.[182] "US pledges support for Afghan oil pipeline if Taliban makes peace" (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 2/ hi/ world/ west_asia/ 38115. stm). BBC

News. December 10, 1997. . Retrieved April 9, 2010.[183] Reuters, "Taliban blame Clinton scam for attacks", 1998-08-21.[184] Rashid 2000, pp. 138, 231.[185] Rashid 2000, p. 78.[186] "U.S. set to pay Taliban members to switch sides" (http:/ / www. cnn. com/ 2009/ POLITICS/ 10/ 28/ afghanistan. taliban. pay/ index.

html). CNN. October 29, 2009. . Retrieved April 9, 2010.[187] "IPS Inter Press Service" (http:/ / ipsnews. net/ text/ news. asp?idnews=49701). Ipsnews.net. . Retrieved August 27, 2010.[188] "Right after interviewing Karzai" (http:/ / amanpour. blogs. cnn. com/ 2009/ 12/ 06/ right-after-interviewing-karzai/ ). CNN. . Retrieved

April 9, 2010.[189] Homan, Timothy R. (December 6, 2009). "bloomberg.com" (http:/ / www. bloomberg. com/ apps/ news?pid=20601087&

sid=aUO6eLdxBxqo& pos=9). bloomberg.com. . Retrieved August 27, 2010.[190] Reuters (September 11, 2001). "Pentagon sees reconciliation with Taliban" (http:/ / www. stuff. co. nz/ world/ 666993). stuff.co.nz. .

Retrieved August 27, 2010.[191] (AFP) – Jan 24, 2010 (January 24, 2010). "google.com/hostednews/afp/article" (http:/ / www. google. com/ hostednews/ afp/ article/

ALeqM5iKXQC2HwynedmTU1YcjQQFpyPA_g). Google.com. . Retrieved August 27, 2010.[192] Fitchett, Joseph (September 26, 2001). "What About the Taliban's Stingers?" (http:/ / www. iht. com/ articles/ 2001/ 09/ 26/ stinger_ed3_.

php). The International Herald Tribune. . Retrieved November 11, 2008.[193] "AM Archive – UK freezes $200 million worth of Taliban assets" (http:/ / www. abc. net. au/ am/ stories/ s380395. htm). Abc.net.au. .

Retrieved November 4, 2010.[194] Conflict in Afghanistan: a ... – Google Books (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=bv4hzxpo424C& pg=PA154& dq="united+ kingdom"+

taliban#v=onepage& q="united kingdom" taliban& f=false). Books.google.com. 2003. ISBN 9781851094028. . Retrieved November 4, 2010.[195] "General Sir Michael Jackson: We must maintain our will in Afghanistan" (http:/ / www. telegraph. co. uk/ news/ newstopics/

onthefrontline/ 2171923/ General-Sir-Michael-Jackson-We-must-maintain-our-will-in-Afghanistan. html). London: Telegraph. June 21, 2008.. Retrieved November 4, 2010.

[196] Meo, Nick (August 9, 2008). "British cash to buy off Taliban 'goes to farmers'" (http:/ / www. telegraph. co. uk/ news/ worldnews/ asia/afghanistan/ 2529278/ British-cash-to-buy-off-Taliban-goes-to-farmers. html). The Daily Telegraph (London). . Retrieved April 9, 2010.

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[198] The idea of Pakistan, by Stephen P. Cohen (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=sOTZqI5zREoC& pg=PA248& dq=india+ taliban&client=firefox-a#PPA250,M1).

[199] Massoud joins hands with India (http:/ / www. rawa. org/ massoud. htm).[200] Bombay terrorist reveals links with IC 814 hijackers (http:/ / www. rediff. com/ news/ 2001/ dec/ 07ter. htm).

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[201] India reaches out to Afghanistan (http:/ / www. atimes. com/ atimes/ South_Asia/ GH30Df01. html).[202] India's Afghan policy (http:/ / mea. gov. in/ opinion/ 2003/ 03/ 07o01. htm).[203] India joins anti-Taliban coalition (http:/ / www. janes. com/ security/ international_security/ news/ jir/ jir010315_1_n. shtml)[204] India and Pakistan, by Duncan Mcleod (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=EqDdfZwSc3EC& pg=PA93& dq=india+ hijacking+

ahmed+ shah+ massoud& client=firefox-a).[205] Tharoor, Ishaan (December 5, 2009). "India, Pakistan and the Battle for Afghanistan" (http:/ / www. time. com/ time/ world/ article/

0,8599,1945666,00. html). Time.com. . Retrieved August 27, 2010.[206] "India: Afghanistan's influential ally" (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 2/ hi/ 7492982. stm). BBC News. October 8, 2009. . Retrieved August 27,

2010.[207] Bajoria, Jayshree (July 22, 2009). "India-Afghanistan Relations" (http:/ / www. cfr. org/ publication/ 17474/ indiaafghanistan_relations.

html). Council on Foreign Relations. . Retrieved August 27, 2010.[208] Terrorism threat in India during World Cup: Malik (Express Tribune) (http:/ / tribune. com. pk/ story/ 137011/

terrorism-threat-in-india-during-world-cup-malik)[209] Taliban trying to enter India: Malik (The News) (http:/ / www. thenews. com. pk/ NewsDetail. aspx?ID=13081)[210] Terrorist plotting World Cup attack nabbed: Rehman Malik (The Times of India) (http:/ / timesofindia. indiatimes. com/ world/ pakistan/

Terrorist-plotting-World-Cup-attack-nabbed-Rehman-Malik/ articleshow/ 7781076. cms)[211] At Border, Signs of Pakistani Role in Taliban Surge - New York Times (http:/ / www. nytimes. com/ 2007/ 01/ 21/ world/ asia/ 21quetta.

html)[212] India forced to reassess Taliban threat (Times of India) (http:/ / articles. timesofindia. indiatimes. com/ 2009-03-31/ india/

28010241_1_pakistan-army-taliban-threat-quetta-shura)[213] Rashid 2000, p. 126.[214] UNCP Country Development Indicators, 1995.[215] Quoting the ICRC (http:/ / www. blackwell-synergy. com/ doi/ abs/ 10. 1111/ j. 1478-0542. 2005. 00141. x?cookieSet=1&

journalCode=hico).[216] Rashid 2000, p. 72.[217] Rashid 2000, pp. 64, 78.[218] Maulvi Jalil-ullah Maulvizada, June 1997 interview with Ahmed Rashid; Rashid 2000, pp. 111–112.[219] Rashid 2000, p. 65.[220] Rashid 2000, p. 71.[221] Aid agencies pull out of Kabul (http:/ / www. bmj. com/ cgi/ content/ full/ 317/ 7155/ 369/ a) The building had neither electricity or

running water.[222] Rashid 2000, pp. 71–72.[223] Agence France-Presse, "Taliban reject warnings of aid pull-out", 1998-07-16.[224] "UN official calls for talks with taliban leaders" (http:/ / sify. com/ news/

un-official-calls-for-talks-with-taliban-leaders-news-international-jicuarhgaeb. html). sify.com. . Retrieved August 27, 2010.[225] Farmer, Ben (January 25, 2010). "UN: lift sanctions on Taliban to build peace in Afghanistan" (http:/ / www. telegraph. co. uk/ news/

worldnews/ asia/ afghanistan/ 7067537/ UN-lift-sanctions-on-Taliban-to-build-peace-in-Afghanistan. html). The Daily Telegraph (London). .Retrieved April 9, 2010.

[226] "UN Reduce Taliban names on terror list" (http:/ / www. upi. com/ Top_News/ US/ 2010/ 01/ 25/UN-Reduce-Taliban-names-on-terror-list/ UPI-69591264400185/ ). upi.com. January 25, 2010. . Retrieved August 27, 2010.

[227] "Asia News" (http:/ / english. aljazeera. net/ news/ asia/ 2010/ 01/ 2010125185642602982. html). english.aljazeera.net. January 26, 2010. .Retrieved August 27, 2010.

External links• Alternative discourse: A review of the former Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan's autobiography (http:/ / www.

dawn. com/ wps/ wcm/ connect/ dawn-content-library/ dawn/ news/ world/ 04-alternative-discourse-qs-03) byQurat ul ain Siddiqui

• Taliban in Oxford Islamic Studies Online (http:/ / www. oxfordislamicstudies. com/ article/ opr/ t125/e2325?_hi=14& _pos=4)

• Taliban's website (English) (http:/ / www. alemarah. info/ english/ ) How Do I Get in Touch With a Terrorist(http:/ / www. slate. com/ id/ 2231637) Slate. October 2009

• The Taliban's Secret Photos (http:/ / link. brightcove. com/ services/ link/ bcpid271557392/ bctid1151557602)• Future Opioids: Afghanistan, Opium and the Taliban (http:/ / opioids. com/ afghanistan/ index. html)• The National Security Archive – The September 11th Sourcebooks (http:/ / www. gwu. edu/ ~nsarchiv/

NSAEBB/ NSAEBB97/ index. htm) Volume VII: The Taliban File September 2003

Taliban 29

• "Is One of the Lost Tribes the Taliban?" (http:/ / www. momentmag. com/ Exclusive/ 2007/ 2007-04/200704-Taliban. html) – from Moment Magazine (April 2007)

• The Taliban Diaries (http:/ / www. dailytimes. com. pk/ default. asp?page=2009\06\20\story_20-6-2009_pg3_5)by Shaukat Qadir, Daily Times, 2009-06-20

• Taliban (http:/ / english. aljazeera. net/ category/ organisation/ taliban) collected news and commentary at AlJazeera English

• Taliban (http:/ / www. guardian. co. uk/ world/ taliban) collected news and commentary at The Guardian• Taliban (http:/ / topics. nytimes. com/ top/ reference/ timestopics/ organizations/ t/ taliban/ ) collected news and

commentary at The New York Times• Works by or about Taliban (http:/ / worldcat. org/ identities/ lccn-no98-126907) in libraries (WorldCat catalog)Criticism of ideology• Afghanistan's Taliban: Not a valid interpretation of Islam (http:/ / islamfortoday. com/ taleban8. htm), Islam For

Today

Insurgency• Battling Taliban: Where Does It Stop? (http:/ / www. dawn. com/ wps/ wcm/ connect/ dawn-content-library/

news/ specials/ ) ongoing coverage from Dawn in Pakistan• Return Of The Taliban (http:/ / www. pbs. org/ wgbh/ pages/ frontline/ taliban/ ) from PBS Frontline, October

2006• Struggle for Kabul: The Taliban Advance (http:/ / icosgroup. net/ modules/ reports/ struggle_for_kabul) from the

ICOS, December 8, 2008• Held by The Taliban: A Reporting Trip Becomes a Kidnapping (http:/ / projects. nytimes. com/

held-by-the-taliban/ #part-1) from The New York Times, 2008–2009• Military Raids, Backing of Corrupt Government Undermining Stated US Goals in Afghanistan (http:/ / www.

democracynow. org/ 2010/ 10/ 29/ killing_reconciliation_military_raids_backing_of) – video report byDemocracy Now!

Article Sources and Contributors 30

Article Sources and ContributorsTaliban  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=444042512  Contributors: *x stab my heartx*, -Kerplunk-, ...adam..., 0, 11alondon, 137.205.8.xxx, 1orbitx, 2, 205.188.193.xxx,45tom67, 7Beckham, 84user, ACSE, AJCham, AVand, AYousefzai, AaronCBurke, AbdaliPashtoon, Abdullahazzam, Abeezio, Abhask, Abhijitsathe, Abid akmal, AdRock, Adamgodd92,Adashiel, Addshore, Adikhebat, Aeromotive1, Aervanath, Afghanvoice, Afranelli, Afrique, Afromcbenny, Ageekgal, Agerskov, Agnaramasi, AhmadMUJ, Ahoerstemeier, Ahuskay,Airplaneman, Ajraddatz, Alan Liefting, Alansohn, Alex Kennedy, Alex128183, Alex43223, AlexanderKaras, Alexdb2005, Alexissenoski, Alexsau1991, Ali@gwc.org.uk, Aljakra, Alkaida,AllenTM, Allstarecho, AlphaGamma1991, Alsandro, Amakuru, Aminullah, Amos Han, Andre Engels, Andrejose, AndresTM, Andrew Hampe, AndrewRT, Andrewlp1991, Andrewpmk, Andries,Andrwsc, Andy Marchbanks, Angelo De La Paz, Anna Lincoln, Ano-User, Anonymous editor, Anotherclown, Antandrus, Anthony Appleyard, Antonio Lopez, Arakunem, Arfan, ArielGold, ArtLaPella, Artaxiad, Arthur Warrington Thomas, Artimand, Artyom, Ashleyevoo, Ashmoo, Ashthecat3, AssistantX, Astronautics, Astroview120mm, Atmamatma, Augchen, AvicAWB,Avicennasis, AxelBoldt, Axlq, Aziz1005, B. 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Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 31

Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsImage:Flag of Taliban.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Taliban.svg  License: unknown  Contributors: AnonMoos, Antemister, Dbachmann, Gripweed, Homolupus, Jeff G., Lexicon, Liftarn, Mattes, OsamaK, Vmenkov, Xiengyod, 12 anonymous editsFile:Massoud and Qadir 2.PNG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Massoud_and_Qadir_2.PNG  License: Fair Use  Contributors: JCAlaFile:1996afghan (1).png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:1996afghan_(1).png  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors: Rangeley at en.wikipedia. Laterversion(s) were uploaded by Noclador at en.wikipedia.File:Massoud 2000.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Massoud_2000.jpg  License: Fair Use  Contributors: JCAlaImage:Taliban bounty flyer.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Taliban_bounty_flyer.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: CIAFile:081131-F-7734Q-001.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:081131-F-7734Q-001.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: U.S. Air Force photo/Lt Col Leslie PrattImage:afghan 082.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Afghan_082.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: EuropecentralFile:Taliban beating woman in public RAWA.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Taliban_beating_woman_in_public_RAWA.jpg  License: Creative CommonsAttribution 3.0  Contributors: RAWAFile:Destruction of Buddhas March 21 2001.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Destruction_of_Buddhas_March_21_2001.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors:Beh-nam, Gump Stump, RedCoat10, Sj, Voyagerfan5761File:Taliban execute Zarmeena in Kabul in1999 RAWA.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Taliban_execute_Zarmeena_in_Kabul_in1999_RAWA.jpg  License:Creative Commons Attribution 3.0  Contributors: RAWAFile:Taliban-herat-2001 retouched.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Taliban-herat-2001_retouched.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: bluuurghFile:Taliban in northern Afghanistan.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Taliban_in_northern_Afghanistan.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Tamkeen ( PajhwokAfghan News)File:ANA soldier shows opium captured in an alleged Taliban safe house in Helmand.jpg  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:ANA_soldier_shows_opium_captured_in_an_alleged_Taliban_safe_house_in_Helmand.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Sean K. Harp

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