Taliban

Taliban
طَالِبَانْ (ṭālibān)
Flag of the Taliban, also used as the flag of Afghanistan
Founders	Mohammed Omar # Abdul Ghani Baradar
Supreme leaders	Mohammed Omar # (1994–2013) Akhtar Mansour † (2015–2016) Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present)
Governing body	Leadership Council
Dates of operation	1994–1996 (militia) 1996–2001 (1st government) 2002–2021 (insurgency) 2021–present (2nd government)
Group(s)	Primarily Pashtuns;[1][2] minority Tajiks and Uzbeks[3][4]
Headquarters	Kandahar (1994–2001; 2021–present)
Active regions	Afghanistan
Ideology	Majority: Deobandi jihadism[5][6][7] Islamic fundamentalism[8][5][9][10][11] Afghan nationalism[12] Pashtunwali[13][14][15] Traditionalism[16][17]
Size	Core strength 45,000 (2001 est.)[18] 11,000 (2008 est.)[19] 36,000 (2010 est.)[20] 60,000 (2014 est.)[21] 60,000 (2017 est. excluding 90,000 local militia and 50,000 support elements)[22] 75,000 (2021 est.)[23][24][25] 130,000 (2022 self-claim)[26]
Allies	Subgroups Haqqani network (since 1995) Jamaat al-Dawah ila al-Quran wal-Sunnah (since 2010) Tora Bora Military Front (since 2016)[27] Imam Bukhari Jamaat (since 2017) High Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (since 2021) State allies  China (alleged by the US, but denied by China)[28]  Iran (alleged, but denied by Iran)[29]  Pakistan (alleged, but denied by Pakistan)[30][10][31][32]  Qatar (alleged by Saudi Arabia)[33][34]  Russia (alleged, but denied by Russia)[35]  Saudi Arabia (alleged by the US)[36][34]  Turkmenistan (until 2001)[37]  United Arab Emirates (until 2001)[38]  Chechnya (1994–2000)[39] Non-state allies Hamas[40][41] Turkistan Islamic Party Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (anti-ISIS faction)[42][43] Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin[44] (denied from 2016–2021,[45] openly since 2021)[46] Lashkar-e-Taiba[47] (occasional support)[48] Al-Qaeda[49] (currently denied)[50] Jamaat Ansarullah[51] (denied)[52] Jaish-e-Mohammed[47] (denied)[53][54] Pakistani Taliban[55][56] (denied)[57] Islamic Jihad Union Ansar al-Islam in Kurdistan Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al-Badr Caucasian Front Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (denied) Hizb ut-Tahrir (sometimes) Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Caucasus Emirate Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad
Opponents	State and intergovernmental opponents  Islamic State of Afghanistan (1994–2002)  NATO (2001–2021)[58]  United States (2001–2021)  Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan (2002–2004)  Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021)[59] Non-state opponents National Resistance Front of Afghanistan Afghanistan Freedom Front Islamic State – Khorasan Province[60][61][62] Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (ISIS allied faction)[63] Fidai Mahaz (sometimes 2016–2021, no fighting since 2021) High Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (2015–2021)[64]
Battles and wars	Afghan Civil War (1992–1996) Tajikistani Civil War (1992–1997)[65] Afghan Civil War (1996–2001) War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Taliban insurgency 2021 Taliban offensive Islamic State–Taliban conflict (2015–present)
Designated as a terrorist group by	Canada[66]  Kyrgyzstan[67]  New Zealand[68]  Russia[69]  Tajikistan[70]  United Arab Emirates[71][72]
Website	alemarahenglish.af
Preceded by Students of Darul Uloom Haqqania[73][74] and Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia[75][76]

Afghanistan
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Afghanistan
Constitution Taliban Islamic Movement Loya jirga ("Grand assembly") Human rights Human Rights Commission LGBT rights Treatment of women by the Taliban
Government Supreme Leader (list) Hibatullah Akhundzada (decrees) Prime Minister Hasan Akhund (acting) Deputy Leader Sirajuddin Haqqani (first) Mullah Yaqoob (second) Abdul Ghani Baradar (third) Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar (acting, first) Abdul Salam Hanafi (acting, second) Abdul Kabir (acting, third) Leadership Council Cabinet
Judiciary Law of Afghanistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani Deputy chief justices Mohammad Qasim Rasikh (first) Sheikh Abdul Malik (second) Capital punishment
Law enforcement Ministry of Justice Minister: Abdul Hakim Haqqani (acting) Ministry of Interior Affairs Minister: Sirajuddin Haqqani (acting) Afghan National Police Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice Minister: Mohammad Khalid (acting) Attorney General Shamsulldin Shariati (acting)
Administrative divisions Provinces Governors Districts Subdistricts
Elections Recent elections Presidential: 2014 2019 Parliamentary: 2010 2018 Political parties
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Acting Minister: Amir Khan Muttaqi (trips) Ambassadors Diplomatic missions of / in Afghanistan Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy Recognition of the Islamic Emirate Afghanistan and the United Nations
Other countries Atlas
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Part of a series on the
Deobandi movement
Ideology and influences
Dars-i Nizami Maturidi theology Hanafi fiqh
Founders and key figures
Mamluk Ali Nanautawi Imdadullah Muhajir Makki Rahmatullah Kairanawi Ahmad Ali Saharanpuri Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi Rashid Ahmad Gangohi Muhammad Yaqub Nanautawi Sayyid Muhammad Abid Mahmud Deobandi Muhammad Ali Mungeri Mahmud Hasan Deobandi Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri Ashraf Ali Thanwi Ubaidullah Sindhi Anwar Shah Kashmiri Kifayatullah Dehlawi Hussain Ahmed Madani Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi Shabbir Ahmad Usmani Muhammad Idris Kandhlawi Muhammad Zakariyya al-Kandhlawi
Notable institutions
Darul ulooms and madrasas Deoband Mazahir Uloom Nadwatul Ulama Aminia Shahi Dabhel Hathazari Ashrafia Karachi Banuri Town Bury In'aamiyyah List of Deobandi universities
Centres (markaz) of Tablighi Jamaat
Bhopal Dewsbury Dhaka Nerul Nizamuddin Raiwind
Associated organizations
All India Muslim Personal Law Board Bangladesh Qawmi Madrasa Education Commission Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh Islamic Fiqh Academy, India Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind Tablighi Jamaat
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The Taliban is a Sunni Islamist organization and militant group operating in Afghanistan. The group formed the government of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 and took military control of most of Afghanistan again in August 2021. Since the Fall of Kabul on 15 August 2021, the Taliban again has full control of Afghanistan.

1. ↑ Giustozzi, Antonio (2009). Decoding the new Taliban: insights from the Afghan field. Columbia University Press. p. 249. ISBN 978-0-231-70112-9.
2. ↑ Clements, Frank A. (2003). Conflict in Afghanistan: An Encyclopedia (Roots of Modern Conflict). ABC-CLIO. p. 219. ISBN 978-1-85109-402-8.
3. ↑ Bezhan, Frud (15 June 2016). "Ethnic Minorities Are Fueling the Taliban's Expansion in Afghanistan". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
4. ↑ "The Non-Pashtun Taleban of the North: A case study from Badakhshan – Afghanistan Analysts Network". Afghanistan-Analysts.org. 3 January 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Deobandi Islam: The Religion of the Taliban U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps, 15 October 2001
6. ↑ Maley, William (2001). Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban. C Hurst & Co. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-85065-360-8.
7. ↑ "Taliban – Oxford Islamic Studies Online". www.oxfordislamicstudies.com. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014.
8. ↑ Cite error: The named reference Whine 54–72 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
9. ↑ Maley, William (1998). Fundamentalism Reborn?: Afghanistan and the Taliban. Hurst. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-85065-360-8.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} Cite error: The named reference Stanford was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
11. ↑ Ogata, Sadako N. (2005). The Turbulent Decade: Confronting the Refugee Crises of the 1990s. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 286. ISBN 978-0-393-05773-7.
12. ↑ Gopal, Anand (2016). "The Combined and Uneven Development of Afghan Nationalism". Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism. 16 (3): 478–492. doi:10.1111/sena.12206. ISSN 1473-8481.
13. ↑ Rashid, Taliban (2000)
14. ↑ "Why are Customary Pashtun Laws and Ethics Causes for Concern? | Center for Strategic and International Studies". Csis.org. 19 October 2010. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
15. ↑ "Understanding taliban through the prism of Pashtunwali code". CF2R. 30 November 2013. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
16. ↑ D. Metcalf, Barbara. ""Traditionalist" Islamic Activism: Deoband, Tablighis, and Talibs". Social Science Research Council. Retrieved 1 November 2001.
17. ↑ Michal Onderčo (2008). "How fundamentalists rule a country Traditionalism and modernity in the Taliban's rule" (PDF). Slovenská politologická revue. 3: 154–158.
18. ↑ "Taliban and the Northern Alliance". US Gov Info. About.com. Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
19. ↑ 9/11 seven years later: US 'safe,' South Asia in turmoil Archived 10 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
20. ↑ Hamilton, Fiona; Coates, Sam; Savage, Michael (3 March 2010). "MajorGeneral Richard Barrons puts Taleban fighter numbers at 36000". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
21. ↑ "Despite Massive Taliban Death Toll No Drop in Insurgency". Voice of America. Archived from the original on 3 July 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
22. ↑ "Afghanistan's Security Forces Versus the Taliban: A Net Assessment". Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. 14 January 2021. Archived from the original on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
23. ↑ "Remarks by President Biden on the Drawdown of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan". The White House. 8 July 2021. Archived from the original on 8 July 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
24. ↑ "Taliban Sweep in Afghanistan Follows Years of U.S. Miscalculations". The New York Times. 14 August 2021. Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
25. ↑ "Taliban's Afghanistan takeover raises big questions for U.S. security chiefs". NBC News. 16 August 2021. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
26. ↑ "Islamic Emirate: Over 130,000 Soldiers Recruited". Tolo News. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
27. ↑ Roggio, Bill, "Influential Taliban commander pledges to new emir", The Long War Journal, 22 August 2016.
28. ↑ Multiple Sources:
    • "From Taliban to Hezbollah, China is empowering Islamists around the world". TFI global news. 26 September 2021. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
    • "China offered Afghan militants bounties to attack US soldiers: reports". Deutsche Welle. 31 December 2020.
    • Gittleson, Ben (1 January 2021). "US investigating unconfirmed intel that China offered bounties on American troops". ABC7 San Francisco. A spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, Wang Wenbin, on Thursday denied the accusation, calling it a "smear and slander against China" that was "completely nonsense" and "fake news."
29. ↑ Multiple Sources:
    • "Report: Iran pays $1,000 for each U.S. soldier killed by the Taliban". NBC News. 9 May 2010.
    • Tabatabai, Ariane M. (9 August 2019). "Iran's cooperation with the Taliban could affect talks on U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan". The Washington Post.
    • "Iranian Support for Taliban Alarms Afghan Officials". Middle East Institute. 9 January 2017. Both Tehran and the Taliban denied cooperation during the first decade after the US intervention, but the unholy alliance is no longer a secret and the two sides now unapologetically admit and publicize it.
    • "Iran Backs Taliban With Cash and Arms". The Wall Street Journal. 11 June 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
    • "Iran denies Taliban were paid bounties to target US troops". AP NEWS. 18 August 2020.
    • Patrikarakos, David (25 August 2021). "Iran is an immediate winner of the Taliban takeover | The Spectator". www.spectator.co.uk.
    • Salahuddin, Syed (27 May 2018). "Iran funding Taliban to affect US military presence in Afghanistan, say police and lawmakers". Arab News.
    • Siddique, Abubakar; Shayan, Noorullah (31 July 2017). "Mounting Afghan Ire Over Iran's Support For Taliban". RFE/RL.
    • Kugelman, Michael (27 May 2016). "What Was Mullah Mansour Doing in Iran?". Foreign Policy.
30. ↑ Multiple Sources:
    • "'Absolute nonsense': Khan rejects claim Pakistan helping Taliban". NEWS AGENCIES. Al Jazeera. 30 July 2021.
    • Jamal, Umair (23 May 2020). "Understanding Pakistan's Take on India-Taliban Talks". The Diplomat.
    • Farmer, Ben (26 August 2020). "Pakistan urges Taliban to get on with Afghan government talks". The National.
    • "Taliban Leader Feared Pakistan Before He Was Killed". The New York Times. 9 August 2017. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017.
31. ↑ Giraldo, Jeanne K. (2007). Terrorism Financing and State Responses: A Comparative Perspective. Stanford University Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-8047-5566-5. Pakistan provided military support, including arms, ammunition, fuel, and military advisers, to the Taliban through its Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
32. ↑ "Pakistan's support of the Taliban". Human Rights Watch. 2000. Of all the foreign powers involved in efforts to sustain and manipulate the ongoing fighting [in Afghanistan], Pakistan is distinguished both by the sweep of its objectives and the scale of its efforts, which include soliciting funding for the Taliban, bankrolling Taliban operations, providing diplomatic support as the Taliban's virtual emissaries abroad, arranging training for Taliban fighters, recruiting skilled and unskilled manpower to serve in Taliban armies, planning and directing offensives, providing and facilitating shipments of ammunition and fuel, and ... directly providing combat support.
33. ↑ Multiple Sources:
    • "Qatar's Dirty Hands". National Review. 3 August 2017.
    • "Saudi has evidence Qatar supports Taliban: Envoy". Pajhwok Afghan News. 7 August 2017.
34. ↑ ^{34.0 34.1} "Why did Saudi Arabia and Qatar, allies of the US, continue to fund the Taliban after the 2001 war?". scroll.in. 22 December 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
35. ↑ Multiple Sources:
    • Martinez, Luis (10 July 2020). "Top Pentagon officials say Russian bounty program not corroborated". ABC News.
    • Loyd, Anthony (16 October 2017). "Russia funds Taliban in war against Nato forces". The Times. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
    • Noorzai, Roshan; Sahinkaya, Ezel; Gul Sarwan, Rahim (3 July 2020). "Afghan Lawmakers: Russian Support to Taliban No Secret". VOA.
    • "Russian ambassador denies Moscow supporting Taliban". Reuters. 25 April 2016.
36. ↑ Ramani, Samuel. "What's Behind Saudi Arabia's Turn Away From the Taliban?". The Diplomat.
37. ↑ "Turkmenistan Takes a Chance on the Taliban". Stratfor. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019.
38. ↑ Guelke, Adrian (2006). Terrorism and Global Disorder. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-85043-803-8. Retrieved 15 August 2012 – via Google Libros.
39. ↑ Are Chechens in Afghanistan? – By Nabi Abdullaev, 14 December 2001 Moscow Times Archived 7 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
40. ↑ Ali M Latifi (28 October 2022). "Afghanistan: Taliban uses Hamas meeting to send a message to the Muslim world". Middle East Eye.
41. ↑ "Pakistan, Afghanistan show support to Palestine, calls for "cessation of hostilities"". The Economic Times. 7 October 2023. Archived from the original on 7 October 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
42. ↑ "Why Central Asian states want peace with the Taliban". DW News. 27 March 2018. 'Taliban have assured Russia and Central Asian countries that it would not allow any group, including the IMU, to use Afghan soil against any foreign state,' Muzhdah said.
43. ↑ Roggio, Bill; Weiss, Caleb (14 June 2016). "Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan faction emerges after group's collapse". Long War Journal. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
44. ↑ "Afghan militant fighters 'may join Islamic State'". BBC News. 2 September 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
45. ↑ "Afghanistan: Ghani, Hekmatyar sign peace deal". Al Jazeera. 29 September 2016.
46. ↑ "ISIS Violence Dents Taliban Claims Of Safer Afghanistan". NDTV.com. 9 November 2021.
47. ↑ ^{47.0 47.1} "Watch: in Pakistan Jaish-e-Muhammed & Lashkar-e-taiba rallies to celebrate Taliban takeover in Afghanistan". YouTube. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
48. ↑ Stephen, Tankel (2010). "Lashkar-e-Taiba in Perspective". Foreign Policy.
49. ↑ Katz, Rita (13 September 2021). "The Taliban's Victory Is Al Qaeda's Victory".
50. ↑ "Taliban denies knowledge of al-Zawahiri's presence in Kabul, with some members blaming its Haqqani faction". CBS news. 4 August 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
51. ↑ "طالبان تاجیکستان اعلام موجودیت کرد! – خبرآنلاین". www.khabaronline.ir (in Persian). Retrieved 2 August 2022.
52. ↑ "Tajikistan Faces Threat from Tajik Taliban". www.cacianalyst.org. Retrieved 6 May 2023. Incidentally, the Taliban regime has denied the existence of the TTT…
53. ↑ "The Curious Case of Masood Azhar's Disappearance". The diplomat. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
54. ↑ "Taliban's Retort To Pakistan: Jaish Chief Masood Azhar With You, Not Us". NDTV.com. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
55. ↑ Roggio, Bill (12 July 2021). "Taliban advances as U.S. completes withdrawal". FDD's Long War Journal. Archived from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
56. ↑ Tom Wheeldon (18 August 2021). "Pakistan cheers Taliban out of 'fear of India' – despite spillover threat". France 24. The Afghan militants' closeness to Pakistani jihadist group Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP or, simply, the Pakistani Taliban) is a particular source of concern. The TTP have carried out scores of deadly attacks since their inception in the 2000s, including the infamous 2014 Peshawar school massacre. The Taliban and the TTP are "two faces of the same coin", Pakistani Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and ISI boss Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed acknowledged at an off-the-record briefing in July. Indeed, the Taliban reportedly freed a senior TTP commander earlier this month during their sweep through Afghanistan. "Pakistan definitely worries about the galvanising effects the Taliban's victory will have on other Islamist militants, and especially the TTP, which was already resurging before the Taliban marched into Kabul," Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, told France 24. "It's a fear across the establishment."
57. ↑ "Afghan Taliban reject TTP claim of being a 'branch of IEA'". 11 December 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2021."Afghan Taliban deny TTP part of movement, call on group to seek peace with Pakistan". 11 December 2021.
58. ↑ "Taliban attack NATO base in Afghanistan – Central & South Asia". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
59. ↑ "Rare look at Afghan National Army's Taliban fight". BBC News. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
60. ↑ "ISIS reportedly moves into Afghanistan, is even fighting Taliban". 12 January 2015. Archived from the original on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
61. ↑ "ISIS, Taliban announced Jihad against each other". The Khaama Press News Agency. 20 April 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
62. ↑ "Taliban leader: allegiance to ISIS 'haram'". Rudaw. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
63. ↑ "Taliban say gap narrowing in talks with US over Afghanistan troop withdrawal". Military Times. 5 May 2019.
64. ↑ Qazi, Shereena (9 November 2015). "Deadly Taliban infighting erupts in Afghanistan". www.aljazeera.com.
65. ↑ Jonson, Lena (2006). Tajikistan in the New Central Asia. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-84511-293-6. Archived from the original on 16 January 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
66. ↑ "Currently listed entities". Public Safety Canada (published 21 June 2019). 3 February 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
67. ↑ "List of terrorist and extremist organizations banned in Kyrgyzstan". 24.kg. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
68. ↑ "Lists associated with Resolutions 1267/1989/2253 and 1988". police.govt.nz. 1 August 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
69. ↑ Единый федеральный список организаций, признанных террористическими Верховным Судом Российской Федерации [Single federal list of organizations recognized as terrorist by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation]. Russian Federation National Anti-Terrorism Committee. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
70. ↑ "The list of terrorists and extremists". National Bank of Tajikistan. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
71. ↑ "43 new designations specifically address threats posed by Qatar linked and based Al Qaida Terrorism Support Networks". Emirates News Agency. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
72. ↑ "UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain declare details of new terror designations". Emirates News Agency. 25 July 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
73. ↑ Haroon Rashid (2 October 2003). The 'university of holy war', BBC Online.
74. ↑ Mark Magnier (30 May 2009). Pakistan religious schools get scrutiny, Los Angeles Times.
75. ↑ Tom Hussain (4 August 2015). "Mullah Omar worked as potato vendor to escape detection in Pakistan". McClatchy news. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
76. ↑ Gunaratna, Rohan; Iqbal, Khuram (2012), Pakistan: Terrorism Ground Zero, Reaktion Books, p. 41, ISBN 978-1-78023-009-2