Taliban

Taliban or Taleban (tälēbän', –lu–) [key], Islamic fundamentalist militia of Afghanistan and later Pakistan, originally consisting mainly of Sunni Pashtun religious students educated and trained in Pakistan. The Taliban emerged as a significant force in Afghanistan in 1994 when they were assigned by Pakistan to protect a convoy in Afghanistan, which marked the beginning of a long-term alliance between the group and Pakistani security forces. The Taliban subsequently won control of Kandahar, and by 1996 they had gained control over much of Afghanistan, including Kabul, either by force or through forming alliances with other mujahidin.

The Taliban established a government headed Mullah Muhammad Omar, the group's spiritual leader (and a military leader as well). Although the civil war continued, mainly with the Northern Alliance in N Afghanistan, Taliban rule ended much of factional fighting and corrupt rule that had afflicted Afghanistan after the collapse in 1992 of the Soviet-aligned government, but it also rigidly enforced puritannical laws that were influenced by Wahhabi Islam and Afghan tribal customs. The Taliban also provided a refugee for Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda and similar Islamic militant groups, and following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that Al Qaeda launched against the United States, the United States retaliated against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, providing support for a Northern Alliance offensive against the Taliban that led to their collapse and the entry of U.S. forces into Afghanistan. By Dec., 2001, the Taliban had surrendered their last urban stronghold, Kandahar, and they and Al Qaeda retreated into the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border or dispersed among the Pashtuns in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.

Since then, the Taliban have survived several U.S. and NATO campaigns intended to eliminate them as a significant guerrilla force. Aided by the renewed warlordism and corruption, by tribal Pashtun ties, and by a largley moribund Afghan economy, they have reestablished training camps in Pakistan, mainly in North and South Waziristan and Baluchistan, and continue to draw students from religious schools there; they are widely believed to receive support from Pakistan's security forces, despite denials by Pakistan.

Since 2003, the Taliban have mounted ongoing, increasingly frequent guerrilla attacks in Afghanistan, mainly against government supporters and forces, school teachers, and foreign troops and aid workers, and have several times gained control of S Afghan districts and towns in larger operations. They also now use suicide-bomber attacks. The Taliban's presence in Pakistan has led to the growth of a Pakistani Taliban as well. Drawn mainly from Pakistan's ethnic Pashtuns, they have become an important militant force in Waziristan and other tribal areas, at times fighting with government troops.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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