Taliban

{{Short description|Afghan Islamist militant organization}} {{other uses}} {{About-distinguish|the Afghan Taliban|Pakistani Taliban|Punjabi Taliban|Jamaat Ansarullah}} {{Distinguish|text=[[Talibon]], a municipality in the Philippines}} {{pp-vandalism|small=yes}} {{pp-move|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox war faction | name = Taliban | native_name = طَالِبَانْ (Tālibān) | native_name_lang = ps | war = {{plainlist| * [[Afghan conflict|War in Afghanistan]] * [[War on terror]]}} | image = Flag of Taliban.svg{{!}}border | image_size = 300px | image_alt = The Shahada written in black on a white background | caption = Flag of the Taliban, also used as the [[flag of Afghanistan]] | position = [[Far-right]]<ref name="GlobalCrimeDrugTrade">{{cite journal |last1=Aziz |first1=Hamid |last2=Hughes |first2=Caitlin Elizabeth |title=A systematic review of the extent of the Taliban and FARC's involvement and profit from drug trade and methods of estimating income from the drug trade |journal=[[Global Crime]] |date=2024 |volume=25 |issue=2 |page=123 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |issn=1744-0572 |doi=10.1080/17440572.2024.2351818 |quote=The Taliban is a far-right Islamic fundamentalist group that emerged in 1994 amid the chaos of civil war following the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan.|doi-access=free }}</ref> | founders = {{plainlist| * [[Mullah Omar]]{{Natural Causes}} * [[Abdul Ghani Baradar]] }} | leader1_title = [[Supreme Leader of Afghanistan|Supreme Leaders]] | leader1_name = {{indented plainlist| * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes}}{{nbsp}}(1994–2013) * [[Akhtar Mansour]]{{Assassinated|Death of Akhtar Mansour}} (2015–2016) * [[Hibatullah Akhundzada]] (2016–present) }} | leader2_title = Governing body | leader2_name = [[Leadership Council of Afghanistan|Leadership Council]] | clans = Primarily [[Pashtuns]];<ref name="Giustozzi">{{Cite book |last=Giustozzi |first=Antonio |url=https://archive.org/details/decodingnewtalib00anto/page/249 |title=Decoding the new Taliban: insights from the Afghan field |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-231-70112-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/decodingnewtalib00anto/page/249 249]}}</ref><ref name="Clements0">{{Cite book |last=Clements |first=Frank A. |title=Conflict in Afghanistan: An Encyclopedia (Roots of Modern Conflict) |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85109-402-8 |page=219}}</ref> minority [[Tajiks]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 January 2017 |title=The Non-Pashtun Taleban of the North: A case study from Badakhshan |url=https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/the-non-pashtun-taleban-of-the-north-a-case-study-from-badakhshan/ |access-date=21 January 2018 |website=Afghanistan Analysts Network |archive-date=20 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220132420/https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/the-non-pashtun-taleban-of-the-north-a-case-study-from-badakhshan/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Uzbeks]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bezhan|first=Frud|title=Ethnic Minorities Are Fueling the Taliban's Expansion in Afghanistan|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/15/ethnic-minorities-are-fueling-the-talibans-expansion-in-afghanistan/|access-date=26 August 2021|website=Foreign Policy|date=15 June 2016|archive-date=15 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230915235501/https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/06/15/ethnic-minorities-are-fueling-the-talibans-expansion-in-afghanistan/|url-status=live}}</ref> | ideology = {{ubl|class=nowrap| |[[Deobandi jihadism]]{{refn|<ref name="ReferenceE" /><ref name="Maley2-14">{{cite book|last=Maley|first=William|title=Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban|year=2001|publisher=C Hurst & Co|isbn=978-1-85065-360-8|page=14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/print/opr/t236/e0895|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812202550/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/print/opr/t236/e0895|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 August 2014|title=Taliban – Oxford Islamic Studies Online|website=www.oxfordislamicstudies.com}}</ref>}} |[[Islamic fundamentalism]]{{refn|<ref name="Whine 54–72"/><ref name="ReferenceE">Deobandi Islam: The Religion of the Taliban U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps, 15 October 2001</ref><ref name="Maley 1998 14">{{Cite book |last=Maley |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_10sqkVMgUC |title=Fundamentalism Reborn?: Afghanistan and the Taliban |date=1998 |publisher=Hurst |isbn=978-1-85065-360-8 |pages=14}}</ref><ref name="Stanford">[https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/367 'The Taliban'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717084038/https://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/367 |date=17 July 2019 }}. ''Mapping Militant Organizations''. Stanford University. Updated 15 July 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2017.</ref><ref name=Turbulent>{{cite book|last1=Ogata|first1=Sadako N.|title=The Turbulent Decade: Confronting the Refugee Crises of the 1990s|date=2005|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/turbulentdecade00sada/page/286 286]|url=https://archive.org/details/turbulentdecade00sada|url-access=registration|isbn=978-0-393-05773-7}}</ref>}} |[[Afghan nationalism]]<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The Combined and Uneven Development of Afghan Nationalism|year=2016|doi=10.1111/sena.12206|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sena.12206|last1=Gopal|first1=Anand|journal=[[Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism]]|volume=16|issue=3|pages=478–492|issn=1473-8481|url-access=subscription|archive-date=26 July 2023|access-date=10 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230726132529/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sena.12206|url-status=live}}</ref> |[[Pashtun nationalism]]{{refn|<ref>Rashid, ''Taliban'' (2000)</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://csis.org/blog/why-are-customary-pashtun-laws-and-ethics-causes-concern |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101109110349/http://csis.org/blog/why-are-customary-pashtun-laws-and-ethics-causes-concern |url-status=dead |archive-date=9 November 2010 |title=Why are Customary Pashtun Laws and Ethics Causes for Concern? |publisher=CSIS|date=19 October 2010 |access-date=18 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cf2r.org/fr/tribune-libre/understanding-taliban-through-the-prism-of-pashtunwali-code.php |title=Understanding taliban through the prism of Pashtunwali code |publisher=CF2R |date=30 November 2013 |access-date=18 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810020924/http://www.cf2r.org/fr/tribune-libre/understanding-taliban-through-the-prism-of-pashtunwali-code.php |archive-date=10 August 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|publisher=Verso|year=2020|first=Conor|last=Foley|title=The Thin Blue Line|quote=A key part of the Taliban's ideology was based on Pashtun ultra-nationalism}}</ref>}} |[[Atharism|Traditionalism]]{{refn|<ref>{{cite web |first=Barbara |last=D. Metcalf |title='Traditionalist' Islamic Activism: Deoband, Tablighis, and Talibs |url=https://items.ssrc.org/after-september-11/traditionalist-islamic-activism-deoband-tablighis-and-talibs/ |publisher=Social Science Research Council |access-date=1 November 2001 |archive-date=13 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413004627/https://items.ssrc.org/after-september-11/traditionalist-islamic-activism-deoband-tablighis-and-talibs/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Michal Onderčo |title=How fundamentalists rule a country Traditionalism and modernity in the Taliban's rule |journal=Slovenská politologická revue |date=2008 |volume=3 |pages=154–158 |url=https://sjps.fsvucm.sk/Articles/08_3_8.pdf |archive-date=30 August 2024 |access-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240830233132/https://sjps.fsvucm.sk/Articles/08_3_8.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>}} }} | active = {{plainlist| * 1994–1996 ([[#Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)|militia]]) * 1996–2001 ([[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|1st government]]) * 2001–2021 ([[Taliban insurgency|insurgency]]) * 2021–present ([[Afghanistan|2nd government]])}} | headquarters = [[Kandahar]] (1994–2001; 2021–present) | area = [[Afghanistan]] | size = '''Core strength''' {{plainlist| * 45,000 (2001 est.)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Taliban and the Northern Alliance |url=http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa092801a.htm |access-date=26 November 2009 |website=US Gov Info |publisher=About.com |archive-date=1 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101184625/http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa092801a.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> * 11,000 (2008 est.)<ref>[http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2008/09/10/52244/911-seven-years-later-us-safe.html 9/11 seven years later: US 'safe,' South Asia in turmoil] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110234907/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2008/09/10/52244/911-seven-years-later-us-safe.html |date=10 January 2015 }}. Retrieved 24 August 2010.</ref> * 36,000 (2010 est.)<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Hamilton |first1=Fiona |last2=Coates |first2=Sam |last3=Savage |first3=Michael |date=3 March 2010 |title=MajorGeneral Richard Barrons puts Taleban fighter numbers at 36000 |work=The Times |location=London |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7047321.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629112437/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7047321.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 June 2011}}</ref> * 60,000 (2014 est.)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Despite Massive Taliban Death Toll No Drop in Insurgency |date=6 March 2014 |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/despite-massive-taliban-death-toll-no-drop-in-insurgency/1866009.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160703023519/http://www.voanews.com/content/despite-massive-taliban-death-toll-no-drop-in-insurgency/1866009.html |archive-date=3 July 2016 |access-date=17 July 2014 |publisher=Voice of America }}</ref> * 60,000 (2017 est. excluding 90,000 local militia and 50,000 support elements)<ref name="2021number">{{Cite web |date=14 January 2021 |title=Afghanistan's Security Forces Versus the Taliban: A Net Assessment |url=https://ctc.usma.edu/afghanistans-security-forces-versus-the-taliban-a-net-assessment/ |access-date=14 August 2021 |website=Combating Terrorism Center at West Point |archive-date=15 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815115043/https://ctc.usma.edu/afghanistans-security-forces-versus-the-taliban-a-net-assessment/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> * 75,000 (2021 est.)<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 July 2021 |title=Remarks by President Biden on the Drawdown of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/07/08/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-drawdown-of-u-s-forces-in-afghanistan/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210708214308/https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/07/08/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-drawdown-of-u-s-forces-in-afghanistan/ |archive-date=8 July 2021 |access-date=17 August 2021 |website=The White House}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=14 August 2021 |title=Taliban Sweep in Afghanistan Follows Years of U.S. Miscalculations |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/14/us/politics/afghanistan-biden.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817131719/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/14/us/politics/afghanistan-biden.html |archive-date=17 August 2021 |access-date=17 August 2021 |website=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=16 August 2021 |title=Taliban's Afghanistan takeover raises big questions for U.S. security chiefs |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/taliban-s-afghanistan-takeover-raises-big-questions-u-s-security-n1276911 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816215247/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/taliban-s-afghanistan-takeover-raises-big-questions-u-s-security-n1276911 |archive-date=16 August 2021 |access-date=17 August 2021 |publisher=NBC News }}</ref> * 168,000 soldiers and 210,121 police forces and pro-Taliban militia (2024 self-claim)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Recent Developments 2|url=https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/quarterlyreports/2024-01-30qr-section2.pdf#page=30|access-date=30 January 2024|website=SIGAR|archive-date=30 April 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430181226/https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/quarterlyreports/2024-01-30qr-section2.pdf#page=30|url-status=dead}}</ref>}} | predecessor = [[Darul Uloom Haqqania|Students of Darun Uloom Haqqania]]<ref>Imtiaz Ali, {{FIL-Luge link | url1 = http://www.jamestown.org/programs/gta/single/?tx_ttnews | bracket1 = tt_news | url2 = =4180&tx_ttnews | bracket2 = backPid | url3 = =26&cHash=2feb32fe98 | title = The Father of the Taliban: An Interview with Maulana Sami ul-Haq | fil-lugelink = no }}, Spotlight on Terror, [[The Jamestown Foundation]], Volume 4, Issue 2, 23 May 2007.</ref><ref>Haroon Rashid (2 October 2003). [https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3155112.stm The 'university of holy war'] , ''[[BBC Online]]''.</ref><ref>Mark Magnier (30 May 2009). [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-may-30-fg-madrasa30-story.html Pakistan religious schools get scrutiny] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241013193944/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-may-30-fg-madrasa30-story.html |date=13 October 2024 }}, ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''.</ref> and [[Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia]]<ref>{{cite news |author=Tom Hussain |title=Mullah Omar worked as potato vendor to escape detection in Pakistan |url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article29940219.html |newspaper=McClatchy news |date=4 August 2015 |access-date=11 October 2016 |archive-date=17 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617220025/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article29940219.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{citation |last1=Gunaratna |first1=Rohan |last2=Iqbal |first2=Khuram |title=Pakistan: Terrorism Ground Zero |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QD9qPQznBXYC&pg=PA41 |date=2012 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=978-1-78023-009-2 |page=41}}</ref> * [[Hezb-e Islami Khalis]] * [[Haqqani Network]] | partof = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Taliban.svg}} Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan ([[Government of Afghanistan|2021–present]], [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|1996–2001]]) | allies = {{Collapsible list |title={{Nbsp}}| '''Subgroups''' * {{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[Haqqani network]] {{small|(since 1995)}} * {{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[Jamaat al-Dawah ila al-Quran wal-Sunnah]] {{small|(since 2010)}} * {{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[Tora Bora Military Front]] {{small|(since 2016)}}<ref>Roggio, Bill, "[http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2016/08/influential-taliban-commander-pledges-to-new-emir.php Influential Taliban commander pledges to new emir] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529065933/https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2016/08/influential-taliban-commander-pledges-to-new-emir.php |date=29 May 2022 }}", ''The Long War Journal'', 22 August 2016.</ref> * {{flagicon image|Imam Bukhari Jamaat flag.svg}} [[Imam Bukhari Jamaat]] {{small|(since 2017)}} * {{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[High Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan]] {{small|(since 2021)}} ---- '''State allies''' * {{flagcountry|China}}<br />{{small|(alleged by the US, but denied by China)}}<ref>Multiple Sources: * {{cite web |title=From Taliban to Hezbollah, China is empowering Islamists around the world |url=https://tfiglobalnews.com/2021/09/26/from-taliban-to-hezbollah-china-is-empowering-islamists-around-the-world/ |website=TFI global news |date=26 September 2021 |access-date=26 September 2021 }} * {{cite news |title=China offered Afghan militants bounties to attack US soldiers: reports |url=https://www.dw.com/en/china-offered-afghan-militants-bounties-to-attack-us-soldiers-reports/a-56103735 |work=Deutsche Welle |date=31 December 2020 |archive-date=26 October 2021 |access-date=2 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026172900/https://www.dw.com/en/china-offered-afghan-militants-bounties-to-attack-us-soldiers-reports/a-56103735 |url-status=live }} * {{cite web |last1=Gittleson |first1=Ben |title=US investigating unconfirmed intel that China offered bounties on American troops |url=https://abc7news.com/us-investigating-unconfirmed-intel-that-china-offered-bounties-on-american-troops/9234125/ |quote=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'. |website=ABC7 San Francisco |date=1 January 2021 |access-date=2 December 2021 |archive-date=3 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203224105/https://abc7news.com/us-investigating-unconfirmed-intel-that-china-offered-bounties-on-american-troops/9234125/ |url-status=live }}</ref> * {{flagcountry|India}}<br />{{small|(alleged by Pakistan)}}<ref name="AlJ: PakistanIndia">{{cite web |last1=Hussain |first1=Abid |title=Why is Pakistan making India a key figure in its dispute with the Taliban? |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11/5/why-is-pakistan-making-india-a-key-figure-in-its-dispute-with-the-taliban |website=[[Al Jazeera]] |access-date=2 December 2025 |date=5 November 2025}}</ref> * {{flagcountry|Iran}}<br />{{small|(alleged during the [[Taliban insurgency]], but denied by Iran)}}<ref>Multiple Sources: * {{cite news |title=Report: Iran pays $1,000 for each U.S. soldier killed by the Taliban |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna39014669 |publisher=NBC News |date=9 May 2010 |archive-date=21 October 2020 |access-date=3 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021132643/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/39014669/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/t/report-iran-pays-each-us-soldier-killed-taliban/ |url-status=live }} * {{cite news |title=Iran's cooperation with the Taliban could affect talks on U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/09/irans-cooperation-with-taliban-could-affect-talks-us-withdrawal-afghanistan/ |first=Ariane M. |last=Tabatabai |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=9 August 2019 |archive-date=21 August 2021 |access-date=13 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210821145948/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/09/irans-cooperation-with-taliban-could-affect-talks-us-withdrawal-afghanistan/ |url-status=live }} * {{Cite news |date=9 January 2017 |title=Iranian Support for Taliban Alarms Afghan Officials |work=[[Middle East Institute]] |url=https://www.mei.edu/publications/iranian-support-taliban-alarms-afghan-officials |quote=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. |archive-date=13 June 2021 |access-date=26 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613164849/https://www.mei.edu/publications/iranian-support-taliban-alarms-afghan-officials |url-status=live }} * {{Cite web |date=11 June 2015 |title=Iran Backs Taliban With Cash and Arms |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-backs-taliban-with-cash-and-arms-1434065528 |access-date=13 June 2015 |website=The Wall Street Journal |archive-date=29 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729164036/https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-backs-taliban-with-cash-and-arms-1434065528 |url-status=live }} * {{cite web |title=Iran denies Taliban were paid bounties to target US troops |url=https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-middle-east-us-news-taliban-iran-99c1d96ba53ab0ccd543bf6ec2a0d040 |website=AP News |date=18 August 2020 |access-date=2 December 2021 |archive-date=18 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718085046/https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-middle-east-us-news-taliban-iran-99c1d96ba53ab0ccd543bf6ec2a0d040 |url-status=live }} * {{cite web |last1=Patrikarakos |first1=David |title=Iran is an immediate winner of the Taliban takeover |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/iran-is-an-immediate-winner-of-the-taliban-takeover |website=The Spectator |date=25 August 2021 |access-date=2 December 2021 |archive-date=9 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909195753/https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/iran-is-an-immediate-winner-of-the-taliban-takeover/ |url-status=live }} * {{cite web |last1=Salahuddin |first1=Syed |title=Iran funding Taliban to affect US military presence in Afghanistan, say police and lawmakers |url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/1310541/world |website=Arab News |date=27 May 2018 |access-date=2 December 2021 |archive-date=9 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240909195807/https://www.arabnews.com/node/1310541/world |url-status=live }} * {{cite web |last1=Siddique |first1=Abubakar |last2=Shayan |first2=Noorullah |title=Mounting Afghan Ire Over Iran's Support For Taliban |url=https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-iran-taliban-support/28651070.html |website=RFE/RL |date=31 July 2017 |access-date=2 December 2021 |archive-date=31 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731185424/https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-iran-taliban-support/28651070.html |url-status=live }} * {{Cite web |last=Kugelman |first=Michael |title=What Was Mullah Mansour Doing in Iran? |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/05/27/mullah-mansour-iran-afghanistan-taliban-drone/ |website=Foreign Policy |date=27 May 2016 |access-date=9 February 2018 |archive-date=21 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210821172634/https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/05/27/mullah-mansour-iran-afghanistan-taliban-drone/ |url-status=live }}</ref> * {{flagcountry|North Korea}}<br />{{small|(alleged by the US)}}<ref>{{cite news |first=Jeff |last=Stein |author-link=Jeff Stein (author) |title=Wikileaks documents: N. Korea sold missiles to al-Qaeda, Taliban |url=http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/07/wiki_n_korea_sold_rockets_to_a.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=26 July 2010 |access-date=4 September 2024 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728034058/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/07/wiki_n_korea_sold_rockets_to_a.html |archive-date=28 July 2011 }}</ref> * {{flagcountry|Pakistan}}<br />{{small|(1994–2001; alleged during the [[Taliban insurgency]], but denied by Pakistan)}}<ref>Multiple Sources: * {{cite news |title='Absolute nonsense': Khan rejects claim Pakistan helping Taliban |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/30/imran-khan-claim-pakistan-helping-taliban |work=News Agencies |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=30 July 2021 }} * {{cite news |title=Understanding Pakistan's Take on India-Taliban Talks |first=Umair |last=Jamal |url=https://thediplomat.com/2020/05/understanding-pakistans-take-on-india-taliban-talks/ |work=The Diplomat |date=23 May 2020 |archive-date=7 September 2021 |access-date=2 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907151004/https://thediplomat.com/2020/05/understanding-pakistans-take-on-india-taliban-talks/ |url-status=live }} * {{cite web |last1=Farmer |first1=Ben |title=Pakistan urges Taliban to get on with Afghan government talks |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/asia/pakistan-urges-taliban-to-get-on-with-afghan-government-talks-1.1068678 |website=The National |date=26 August 2020 |access-date=2 December 2021 |archive-date=30 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130004150/https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/asia/pakistan-urges-taliban-to-get-on-with-afghan-government-talks-1.1068678 |url-status=live }} * {{Cite news |date=9 August 2017 |title=Taliban Leader Feared Pakistan Before He Was Killed |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/09/world/asia/taliban-leader-feared-pakistan-before-he-was-killed.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809191947/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/09/world/asia/taliban-leader-feared-pakistan-before-he-was-killed.html |archive-date=9 August 2017 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Stanford" /><ref name="Giraldo">{{Cite book |last=Giraldo |first=Jeanne K. |url=https://archive.org/details/terrorismfinanci00haro |title=Terrorism Financing and State Responses: A Comparative Perspective |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-8047-5566-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/terrorismfinanci00haro/page/96 96] |quote=Pakistan provided military support, including arms, ammunition, fuel, and military advisers, to the Taliban through its Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Human Rights Watch-PST">{{Cite news |year=2000 |title=Pakistan's support of the Taliban |publisher=Human Rights Watch |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/afghan2/Afghan0701-02.htm |quote=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. |archive-date=15 June 2010 |access-date=4 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615184800/http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/afghan2/Afghan0701-02.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> * {{flagcountry|Qatar}}<br />{{small|(alleged by Saudi Arabia)}}<ref>Multiple Sources: * {{cite web|title=Qatar's Dirty Hands|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/450093/qatar-supports-islamists-threatens-american-middle-east-allies|date=3 August 2017|work=[[National Review]]|access-date=26 March 2019|archive-date=8 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008095942/http://www.nationalreview.com/article/450093/qatar-supports-islamists-threatens-american-middle-east-allies|url-status=live}} * {{cite news|work=[[Pajhwok Afghan News]]|date=7 August 2017|url=https://www.pajhwok.com/en/2017/08/07/saudi-has-evidence-qatar-supports-taliban-envoy|title=Saudi has evidence Qatar supports Taliban: Envoy|archive-date=12 November 2020|access-date=26 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112031801/https://www.pajhwok.com/en/2017/08/07/saudi-has-evidence-qatar-supports-taliban-envoy|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Scroll" /> * {{flagcountry|Russia}}<br />{{small|(alleged, but denied by Russia)}}<ref>Multiple Sources: * {{cite news |title=Top Pentagon officials say Russian bounty program not corroborated |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/top-pentagon-officials-russian-bounty-program-corroborated/story?id=71694167 |first=Luis |last=Martinez |work=ABC News |date=10 July 2020 |archive-date=21 August 2021 |access-date=13 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210821145957/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/top-pentagon-officials-russian-bounty-program-corroborated/story?id=71694167 |url-status=live }} * {{cite news |last1=Loyd |first1=Anthony |title=Russia funds Taliban in war against Nato forces |url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/russia-funds-taliban-in-war-against-nato-forces-hvfl3cgrg |access-date=18 September 2021 |date=16 October 2017 |website=The Times |archive-date=12 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250412133921/https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/russia-funds-taliban-in-war-against-nato-forces-hvfl3cgrg |url-status=live }} * {{cite web |last1=Noorzai |first1=Roshan |last2=Sahinkaya |first2=Ezel |last3=Gul Sarwan |first3=Rahim |title=Afghan Lawmakers: Russian Support to Taliban No Secret |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/extremism-watch_afghan-lawmakers-russian-support-taliban-no-secret/6192205.html |website=VOA |date=3 July 2020 |access-date=2 December 2021 |archive-date=5 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205002304/https://www.voanews.com/a/extremism-watch_afghan-lawmakers-russian-support-taliban-no-secret/6192205.html |url-status=live }} * {{cite web |title=Russian ambassador denies Moscow supporting Taliban |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-russia-idUSKCN0XM1PK |website=Reuters |date=25 April 2016 |access-date=2 December 2021 |archive-date=4 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104003136/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-russia-idUSKCN0XM1PK |url-status=live }}</ref> * {{flagcountry|Saudi Arabia}}<br />{{small|(alleged by the US)}}<ref>{{Cite web |first=Samuel |last=Ramani |title=What's Behind Saudi Arabia's Turn Away From the Taliban? |url=https://thediplomat.com/2017/09/whats-behind-saudi-arabias-turn-away-from-the-taliban/ |website=The Diplomat |access-date=23 February 2019 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126025722/https://thediplomat.com/2017/09/whats-behind-saudi-arabias-turn-away-from-the-taliban/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Scroll">{{Cite web |title=Why did Saudi Arabia and Qatar, allies of the US, continue to fund the Taliban after the 2001 war? |url=https://scroll.in/article/862284/why-did-saudi-arabia-and-qatar-allies-of-the-us-continue-to-fund-the-taliban-after-the-2001-war |access-date=19 April 2018 |website=scroll.in |date=22 December 2017 |archive-date=16 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816131123/https://scroll.in/article/862284/why-did-saudi-arabia-and-qatar-allies-of-the-us-continue-to-fund-the-taliban-after-the-2001-war |url-status=live }}</ref> * {{flagicon image|Flag of the Syrian revolution.svg}} [[Syria]]<br />{{small|(alleged, since 2024)}}<ref>Multiple Sources: * {{Cite news |last=Burke |first=Jason |date=11 December 2024 |title=Islamist groups from across the world congratulate HTS on victory in Syria |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/11/islamist-groups-from-across-the-world-congratulate-hts-on-victory-in-syria |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250115132858/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/11/islamist-groups-from-across-the-world-congratulate-hts-on-victory-in-syria |archive-date=15 January 2025 |work=The Guardian}} * {{Cite web |date=December 2024 |title=The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, held a telephonic conversation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Syrian Interim Government |url=https://mfa.gov.af/en/18113 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241228103847/https://mfa.gov.af/en/18113 |archive-date=28 December 2024 |website=mfa.gov.af}} * {{Cite news |last=Amini |first=Shujauddin |date=28 December 2024 |title=Taliban Appeal to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham for Presence in Syria |url=https://8am.media/eng/taliban-appeal-to-hayat-tahrir-al-sham-for-presence-in-syria/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241231222728/https://8am.media/eng/taliban-appeal-to-hayat-tahrir-al-sham-for-presence-in-syria/ |archive-date=31 December 2024 |work=8AM Media}}</ref> * {{flagcountry|Turkmenistan}}<br />{{small|(until 2001)}}<ref name="Stratfor">{{Cite web |title=Turkmenistan Takes a Chance on the Taliban |url=https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/turkmenistan-takes-chance-taliban |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191208215217/https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/turkmenistan-takes-chance-taliban |archive-date=8 December 2019 |website=Stratfor}}</ref> * {{flagcountry|United Arab Emirates}}<br />{{small|(until 2001)}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guelke |first=Adrian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=diJSFBiOMjUC&pg=PA55 |title=Terrorism and Global Disorder |via =Google Libros |year=2006 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-85043-803-8 |access-date=15 August 2012}}</ref>

---- '''Non-state allies''' * {{Flagicon image|Flag of Turkistan Islamic Party.svg}} [[Turkistan Islamic Party]] * {{flagdeco|ISIL}} [[Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan]] {{small|(anti-[[Islamic State|ISIS]] faction)}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 March 2018 |title=Why Central Asian states want peace with the Taliban |url=https://m.dw.com/en/why-central-asian-states-want-peace-with-the-taliban/a-43150911 |website=DW News |quote='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. |access-date=14 September 2020 |archive-date=14 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514105805/http://m.dw.com/en/why-central-asian-states-want-peace-with-the-taliban/a-43150911 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Roggio |first1=Bill |last2=Weiss |first2=Caleb |date=14 June 2016 |title=Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan faction emerges after group's collapse |work=Long War Journal |url=http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2016/06/islamic-movement-of-uzbekistan-faction-emerges-after-groups-collapse.php |access-date=6 August 2017 |archive-date=11 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411040307/https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2016/06/islamic-movement-of-uzbekistan-faction-emerges-after-groups-collapse.php |url-status=live }}</ref> * {{flagicon image|Flag of Hezbi Islami Gulbuddin.svg}} [[Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin]]<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 September 2014 |title=Afghan militant fighters 'may join Islamic State' |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29009125 |access-date=3 March 2017 |archive-date=16 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816182128/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29009125%7C%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AE |url-status=live }}</ref> {{small|(denied from 2016–2021,<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 September 2016 |title=Afghanistan: Ghani, Hekmatyar sign peace deal |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/09/afghanistan-ghani-hekmatyar-sign-peace-deal-160929092524754.html |publisher=Al Jazeera |access-date=2 March 2017 |archive-date=20 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920183333/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/09/afghanistan-ghani-hekmatyar-sign-peace-deal-160929092524754.html |url-status=live }}</ref> openly since 2021)}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/isis-violence-dents-taliban-claims-of-safer-afghanistan-2604986|title=ISIS Violence Dents Taliban Claims Of Safer Afghanistan|date=9 November 2021|work=NDTV.com}}</ref> * {{flagicon image|Flag of Lashkar-e-Taiba.svg}} [[Lashkar-e-Taiba]]<ref name="youtube.com">{{Cite web|title=Watch: in Pakistan Jaish-e-Muhammed & Lashkar-e-taiba rallies to celebrate Taliban takeover in Afghanistan|website = [[YouTube]]| date=23 August 2021 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJpFSsl69Ro&ab_channel=HindustanTimes|access-date=23 August 2021}}</ref> {{small|(occasional support)}}<ref name=Salafi>{{cite web |last1=Stephen |first1=Tankel |title=Lashkar-e-Taiba in Perspective |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/04/23/lashkar-e-taiba-in-perspective/ |publisher=[[Foreign Policy]] |date=2010 |access-date=6 April 2023 |archive-date=5 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250305201437/https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/04/23/lashkar-e-taiba-in-perspective/ |url-status=live }}</ref> * {{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[Al-Qaeda]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/13/taliban-victory-afghanistan-al-qaeda-victory-911/|title=The Taliban's Victory Is Al Qaeda's Victory|first=Rita|last=Katz|date=13 September 2021 }}</ref> {{small|(currently denied)}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Taliban denies knowledge of al-Zawahiri's presence in Kabul, with some members blaming its Haqqani faction |date=4 August 2022 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ayman-al-zawahiri-killed-taliban-say-they-didnt-know-al-qaeda-leader-was-in-kabul/ |access-date=4 April 2023 |publisher=CBS news |archive-date=4 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804182213/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ayman-al-zawahiri-killed-taliban-say-they-didnt-know-al-qaeda-leader-was-in-kabul/ |url-status=live }}</ref> * {{flagicon image|Jamaat Ansarullah flag.svg}} [[Jamaat Ansarullah]]<ref name="autoQTQ">{{Cite web|url=https://www.khabaronline.ir/news/1654401/%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%AC%DB%8C%DA%A9%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%85%D9%88%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%AA-%DA%A9%D8%B1%D8%AF/|title=طالبان تاجیکستان اعلام موجودیت کرد! – خبرآنلاین|website=www.khabaronline.ir|date=24 July 2022|access-date=2 August 2022|language=fa|archive-date=22 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322034223/https://www.khabaronline.ir/news/1654401/%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%AC%DB%8C%DA%A9%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%85%D9%88%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%AA-%DA%A9%D8%B1%D8%AF|url-status=live}}</ref> {{small|(denied)}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tajikistan Faces Threat from Tajik Taliban |url=https://www.cacianalyst.org/publications/analytical-articles/item/13750-tajikistan-faces-threat-from-tajik-taliban.html |access-date=6 May 2023 |website=cacianalyst.org |quote=Incidentally, the Taliban regime has denied the existence of the TTT... |archive-date=6 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506055057/https://www.cacianalyst.org/publications/analytical-articles/item/13750-tajikistan-faces-threat-from-tajik-taliban.html |url-status=live }}</ref> * {{flagicon image|Jaishi-e-Mohammed.svg}} [[Jaish-e-Mohammed]]<ref name="youtube.com" /> {{small|(denied)}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Curious Case of Masood Azhar's Disappearance |url=https://thediplomat.com/2022/09/the-curious-case-of-masood-azhars-disappearance/ |access-date=4 April 2023 |publisher=The diplomat |archive-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404212342/https://thediplomat.com/2022/09/the-curious-case-of-masood-azhars-disappearance/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Taliban's Retort To Pakistan: Jaish Chief Masood Azhar With You, Not Us |url=https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/jaish-e-mohammad-chief-masood-azhar-is-in-pakistan-claims-taliban-3345617 |access-date=6 April 2023 |website=NDTV.com}}</ref> * {{flagicon image|InfoboxHTS.svg}} [[Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham]] {{small|([[Syrian Revolution Victory Conference|until January 2025]])}}<ref> * {{Cite news |last=Burke |first=Jason |date=11 December 2024 |title=Islamist groups from across the world congratulate HTS on victory in Syria |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/11/islamist-groups-from-across-the-world-congratulate-hts-on-victory-in-syria |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250115132858/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/11/islamist-groups-from-across-the-world-congratulate-hts-on-victory-in-syria |archive-date=15 January 2025 |work=The Guardian}} * {{Cite web |date=December 2024 |title=The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, held a telephonic conversation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Syrian Interim Government |url=https://mfa.gov.af/en/18113 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241228103847/https://mfa.gov.af/en/18113 |archive-date=28 December 2024 |website=mfa.gov.af}} * {{Cite news |last=Amini |first=Shujauddin |date=28 December 2024 |title=Taliban Appeal to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham for Presence in Syria |url=https://8am.media/eng/taliban-appeal-to-hayat-tahrir-al-sham-for-presence-in-syria/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241231222728/https://8am.media/eng/taliban-appeal-to-hayat-tahrir-al-sham-for-presence-in-syria/ |archive-date=31 December 2024 |work=8AM Media}}</ref> * {{flagicon image|Flag of Tehrik-i-Taliban.svg}} [[Pakistani Taliban]]<ref name="advances">{{Cite news |last=Roggio |first=Bill |date=12 July 2021 |title=Taliban advances as U.S. completes withdrawal |work=[[FDD's Long War Journal]] |url=https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2021/07/taliban-advances-as-u-s-completes-withdrawal.php |url-status=live |access-date=16 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724142322/https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2021/07/taliban-advances-as-u-s-completes-withdrawal.php |archive-date=24 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20210818-pakistan-cheers-taliban-out-of-fear-of-india-%E2%80%93-despite-spillover-threat|title=Pakistan cheers Taliban out of 'fear of India' – despite spillover threat|work=[[France 24]]|author=Tom Wheeldon|date=18 August 2021|quote=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."|access-date=15 September 2021|archive-date=28 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228015110/https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20210818-pakistan-cheers-taliban-out-of-fear-of-india-%E2%80%93-despite-spillover-threat|url-status=live}}</ref> {{small|(denied)}}<ref>{{Cite web|title=Afghan Taliban reject TTP claim of being a 'branch of IEA'|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1663185|date=11 December 2021|access-date=11 December 2021|archive-date=11 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211211073939/https://www.dawn.com/news/1663185|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=Afghan Taliban deny TTP part of movement, call on group to seek peace with Pakistan|url=https://www.arabnews.pk/node/1984501/pakistan|date=11 December 2021|access-date=12 December 2021|archive-date=8 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240608025526/https://www.arabnews.pk/node/1984501/pakistan|url-status=live}}</ref> ** [[Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group]] ** {{flagicon image|Tnsm-flag.svg}} [[Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi]] * {{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[Islamic Jihad Union]] * {{flagicon image|Flag of Ansar al-Islam.svg}} [[Ansar al-Islam in Kurdistan]] * {{flagicon image|Flag of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.svg}} [[Harkat-ul-Mujahideen]] * {{flagicon image|Al-Badr flag.svg}} [[Al-Badr (India)|Al-Badr]] * {{flagicon image|Flag of the Islamic Jamaat of Ichkeria.svg}} [[Caucasian Front (militant group)|Caucasian Front]] * {{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind]] {{small|(denied)}} * {{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[Lashkar-e-Islam]] {{small|(denied)}} * {{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[Hizb ut-Tahrir]] {{small|(sometimes)}} * {{flagicon image|Flag of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.svg}} [[Lashkar-e-Jhangvi]] * {{flagicon image|Flag of JTJ.svg}} [[Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad]]<ref>{{cite news|title=Al-Zarqawi's Biography|date=8 June 2006|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/08/AR2006060800299.html?nav=rss_world%2Fafrica|first=Craig|last=Whitlock|access-date=30 November 2023|archive-date=20 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020144918/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/08/AR2006060800299.html?nav=rss_world%2Fafrica|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Bergen, Peter. ''The Osama bin Laden I Know'', 2006</ref> * {{flagicon image|Flag of Caucasian Emirate.svg}} [[Caucasus Emirate]] * {{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad]] }} | opponents = {{Collapsible list |title={{Nbsp}}| '''State and intergovernmental opponents''' * {{flagicon|Afghanistan|1992}} {{flagicon image|Flag of Afghanistan (2002–2004).svg}} {{flagicon image|Flag of Afghanistan (2013–2021).svg}} [[Islamic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]] {{small|(1994–2021)}} * {{flag|Pakistan}} {{small|(since [[Afghanistan–Pakistan clashes (2024–present)|2024]])}}<ref name="AlJ: PakistanIndia" /> * {{flag|NATO}} {{small|([[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|2001–2021]])}}<ref>{{Cite news |title=Taliban attack NATO base in Afghanistan – Central & South Asia |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2012/12/20121224051624851.html |access-date=18 August 2014 |publisher=Al Jazeera |archive-date=21 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221180414/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2012/12/20121224051624851.html |url-status=live }}</ref> * {{flag|United States}} {{small|([[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|2001–2021]])}} ---- '''Non-state opponents''' * {{flagicon image|Flag of Jamiat-e Islami.svg}} [[Jamiat-e Islami]] * {{flagicon image|Flag of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan.svg}} [[National Resistance Front]] * {{flagicon image|Flag of Afghanistan (2002–2004).svg}} [[Afghanistan Freedom Front]] * {{flagicon image|AQMI Flag asymmetric.svg}} [[Islamic State – Khorasan Province]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 January 2015 |title=ISIS reportedly moves into Afghanistan, is even fighting Taliban |work=The Seattle Times |url=http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2025445123_apxafghanistanislamicstate.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213191753/http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2025445123_apxafghanistanislamicstate.html |archive-date=13 February 2015 |access-date=27 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=20 April 2015 |title=ISIS, Taliban announced Jihad against each other |url=http://www.khaama.com/isis-taliban-announced-jihad-against-each-other-3206 |access-date=23 April 2015 |newspaper=The Khaama Press News Agency |archive-date=6 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180406034000/https://www.khaama.com/isis-taliban-announced-jihad-against-each-other-3206/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=13 April 2015 |title=Taliban leader: allegiance to ISIS 'haram' |url=http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/130420151 |access-date=23 April 2015 |website=Rudaw |archive-date=22 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181222234549/http://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/130420151 |url-status=live }}</ref> * {{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[Hizb ut-Tahrir]] {{small|(sometimes)}} * {{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan]] {{small|(ISIS allied faction)}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 May 2019 |title=Taliban say gap narrowing in talks with US over Afghanistan troop withdrawal |url=https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/05/05/taliban-say-gap-narrowing-in-talks-with-us-over-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal/ |website=Military Times |access-date=14 September 2020 |archive-date=12 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712051118/https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/05/05/taliban-say-gap-narrowing-in-talks-with-us-over-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal/ |url-status=live }}</ref> * {{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[Fidai Mahaz]] {{small|(sometimes 2016–2021, no fighting since 2021)}} * {{flagicon image|Flag of Jihad.svg}} [[High Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan]] {{small|(2015–2021)}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Qazi |first1=Shereena |title=Deadly Taliban infighting erupts in Afghanistan |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/9/deadly-taliban-infighting-erupts-in-afghanistan |website=Al Jazeera |date=9 November 2015}}</ref> }} | battles = {{tree list}} * [[Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)|Second Afghan Civil War]] ** [[Battle of Kabul (1992–1996)]] * [[Tajikistani Civil War]]<ref name="google">{{Cite book |last=Jonson |first=Lena |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hLi9oJMT5B8C&pg=PA96 |title=Tajikistan in the New Central Asia |year=2006 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-84511-293-6 |access-date=17 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116011515/https://books.google.com/books?id=hLi9oJMT5B8C&pg=PA96 |archive-date=16 January 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> * [[Afghan Civil War (1996–2001)|Third Afghan Civil War]] * [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)]] ** [[Taliban insurgency]] ** [[2021 Taliban offensive]] * [[Islamic State–Taliban conflict]] * [[Republican insurgency in Afghanistan]] * [[Afghanistan–Pakistan clashes (2024–present)]] {{tree list/end}} | designated_as_terror_group_by = {{flag|Canada}}<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=3 February 2021|title=Currently listed entities|url=https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/cntr-trrrsm/lstd-ntts/crrnt-lstd-ntts-en.aspx|access-date=3 February 2021|website=Public Safety Canada|publication-date=21 June 2019|archive-date=2 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202121931/https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/cntr-trrrsm/lstd-ntts/crrnt-lstd-ntts-eng.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref><br />{{flag|New Zealand}}<ref name="nz-list">{{cite web|url=https://police.govt.nz/advice/personal-community/counterterrorism/designated-entities/lists-associated-with-resolutions-1267-1989-2253-1988|title=Lists associated with Resolutions 1267/1989/2253 and 1988|website=police.govt.nz|access-date=14 November 2023|date=1 August 2023|archive-date=14 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231114084829/https://www.police.govt.nz/advice/personal-community/counterterrorism/designated-entities/lists-associated-with-resolutions-1267-1989-2253-1988|url-status=live}}</ref><br />{{flag|Tajikistan}}<ref name="tj-list">{{cite web|url=https://nbt.tj/en/financial_monitoring/perechni.php|title=The list of terrorists and extremists|publisher=National Bank of Tajikistan|access-date=3 March 2020|archive-date=31 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131084321/https://nbt.tj/en/financial_monitoring/perechni.php|url-status=live}}</ref><br />{{flag|Turkey}}<ref name="bozbas">{{Cite journal |last1=Sönmez |first1=Göktuğ |last2=Bozbaş |first2=Gökhan |last3=Konuşul |first3=Serhat |date=27 December 2020 |title=Afgan Talıbani: Dünü, Bugünü Ve Yarini |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/neusbf/743916 |journal=Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi Dergisi |language=tr |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=59–77 |issn=2667-8063 |access-date=10 August 2021 }}{{dead link|date=September 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><br />{{flag|United Arab Emirates}}<ref name="uae-2017-18">{{cite web|url=http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302618259|title=43 new designations specifically address threats posed by Qatar linked and based Al Qaida Terrorism Support Networks|publisher=Emirates News Agency|date=9 June 2017|access-date=4 March 2020|archive-date=8 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408235131/http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302618259|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="uae-2017-28">{{cite web|last1=Agency |first1=Emirates News |url=http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302624655|title=UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain declare details of new terror designations|work=wam|publisher=Emirates News Agency|date=25 July 2017|access-date=4 March 2020|archive-date=23 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423100306/http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302624655|url-status=live}}</ref><br />{{flag|United States}} (under [[Executive Order 13224]]){{efn|While not on the U.S. State Department's list of [[Foreign Terrorist Organizations]], that is just one of several processes for designating groups. Executive Order 13224 is another.<ref>{{cite web |title=Terrorist Designations and State Sponsors of Terrorism |url=https://www.state.gov/terrorist-designations-and-state-sponsors-of-terrorism/ |publisher=[[U.S. Department of State]] |access-date=15 December 2025}}</ref>}}<!-- The Taliban as as an organizaton is designated under Executive Order 13224 (2001), even though it is not on the FTO list--><ref>{{cite web |title=Current List of Terrorists and Groups Identified Under E.O. 13224 |url=https://www.state.gov/executive-order-13224/ |publisher=[[U.S. Department of State]] |access-date=15 December 2025}}</ref> }} {{Campaignbox Afghan Civil War}} {{Politics of Afghanistan}} {{Jihadism sidebar}}

The '''Taliban''',{{efn|{{IPAc-en|'|t|ae|l|ᵻ|b|ae|n|,_|'|t|a:|l|ᵻ|b|a:|n}}; {{langx|ps|طَالِبَانْ|Tālibān|lit=students}}}} officially known as the '''Islamic Movement of Taliban'''{{efn|{{langx|ps|د طالبانو اسلامي غورځنګ|De Talebano Islami Ghurdzang|lit=Islamic Movement of Students}}; also transliterated as the '''Tahrik-e-Islami’a Taliban''' or '''Talibano Islami Tahrik'''}}, also referring to themselves by their state name, the '''[[Afghanistan|Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan]]''',<ref>{{cite web |last1=Thomas |first1=Clayton |title=Taliban Government in Afghanistan: Background and Issues for Congress |url=https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46955#page=13 |publisher=[[Congressional Research Service]] |access-date=5 March 2022 |page=10 |date=2 November 2021 |quote=The Taliban refer to this government, as they have for decades referred to themselves, as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. |archive-date=21 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221193945/https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46955#page=13 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Seldin |first1=Jeff |title=How Afghanistan's Militant Groups Are Evolving Under Taliban Rule |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/how-afghanistan-s-militant-groups-are-evolving-under-taliban-rule/6492194.html |access-date=19 April 2022 |work=[[Voice of America]] |date=20 March 2022 |quote=the Taliban movement, which calls itself the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan}}</ref> is the Afghan ruling government, as well as a political and militant organization with an ideology comprising elements of the [[Deobandi movement]] of [[Islamic fundamentalism]] and [[Pashtun nationalism]]. It ruled approximately 90% of [[Afghanistan]] from [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|1996 to 2001]], before it was overthrown by an [[United States invasion of Afghanistan|American-led invasion]] after the [[September 11 attacks]] carried out by the Taliban's ally [[al-Qaeda]]. Following [[Taliban insurgency|a 20-year insurgency]] and the departure of [[Resolute Support Mission|coalition forces]], the Taliban [[Fall of Kabul (2021)|recaptured Kabul]] in August 2021, overthrowing the [[Islamic Republic of Afghanistan|Islamic Republic]], and now controls all of Afghanistan. The Taliban has been condemned for restricting [[human rights in Afghanistan|human rights]], including [[women in Afghanistan|women]]'s rights to work and have an [[education in Afghanistan|education]], and for the persecution of [[Ethnic groups in Afghanistan|ethnic minorities]]. It is [[List of designated terrorist groups|designated as a terrorist organization]] by several countries, and the Taliban government is [[Recognition of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan|largely unrecognized]] by the international community.

The Taliban emerged in 1994 as a prominent faction in the [[Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)|Second Afghan Civil War]] (1992–1996) and largely consisted of warlords from the [[Pashtuns|Pashtun]] areas of eastern and southern Afghanistan. Under the leadership of [[Mullah Omar]], the movement spread through most of Afghanistan, shifting power away from the [[Islamic State of Afghanistan]], as well as other [[Afghan mujahideen|Mujahideen]] militants. The Taliban seized Kabul in 1996 and established the [[First Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan]] that was opposed by the [[Northern Alliance]], which maintained international recognition as a continuation of the Islamic State.

During their rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban enforced a strict interpretation of [[sharia law]]{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|pages=37, 42–43}} and were widely condemned for massacres against Afghan civilians, harsh discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities, denial of UN food supplies to starving civilians, destruction of cultural monuments, banning women from school and most employment, and prohibition of most [[Music of Afghanistan|music]].<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" /> The Taliban committed a [[cultural genocide]] against Afghans by destroying their historical and cultural texts, artifacts and sculptures.<ref name="RAWA2022" /> The Taliban held control of most of the country until the United States invasion of Afghanistan began in October 2001, which led to the collapse of their government by December 2001. Many members of the Taliban fled to neighboring Pakistan.

After being overthrown, the Taliban launched an insurgency to fight the US-backed [[Islamic Republic of Afghanistan]] and the [[NATO]]-led [[International Security Assistance Force]] (ISAF) in the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|war in Afghanistan]]. In May 2002, exiled members formed the [[Leadership Council of Afghanistan|Council of Leaders]] based in [[Quetta]], Pakistan. Under [[Hibatullah Akhundzada]]'s leadership, in May 2021, the Taliban launched a [[2021 Taliban offensive|military offensive]], that culminated in the fall of Kabul in August 2021 and the Taliban regaining control. The Islamic Republic was dissolved and the [[Government of Afghanistan|Islamic Emirate]] reestablished. Following their return to power, the Afghanistan government budget lost 80% of its funding and food insecurity became widespread.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022">{{cite magazine |last1=Anderson |first1=Jon Lee |title=The Taliban Confront the Realities of Power |magazine=The New Yorker |date=28 February 2022 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/02/28/the-taliban-confront-the-realities-of-power-afghanistan |access-date=3 March 2022 |archive-date=18 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718090300/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/02/28/the-taliban-confront-the-realities-of-power-afghanistan |url-status=live }}</ref> The Taliban reintroduced many policies implemented under its previous rule, including public executions, banning women from holding almost any jobs, requiring women to wear head-to-toe coverings such as the [[burqa]], blocking women from travelling without male guardians, banning female speech and banning all education for girls.<ref>{{Cite web |date=26 March 2022 |title=Officials: Taliban blocked unaccompanied women from flights |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/officials-taliban-blocked-unaccompanied-women-from-flights |access-date=18 April 2022 |website=PBS NewsHour}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=The Taliban orders women to wear head-to-toe clothing in public |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/05/07/1097382550/taliban-women-burqa-decree |access-date=8 May 2022 |archive-date=7 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507225255/https://www.npr.org/2022/05/07/1097382550/taliban-women-burqa-decree |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |author1=Sune Engel Rasmussen |author2=Esmatullah Kohsar |title=Afghanistan's Taliban Ban All Education for Girls |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/afghanistans-taliban-ban-all-education-for-girls-11671642870 |access-date=21 December 2022 |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=21 December 2022 |archive-date=4 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204082213/https://www.wsj.com/articles/afghanistans-taliban-ban-all-education-for-girls-11671642870 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Taliban ban Afghanistan women from raising voices |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20rq73p3z4o |access-date=20 December 2024 |website=www.bbc.com |date=11 September 2024 |language=en-GB |archive-date=20 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241220092416/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20rq73p3z4o |url-status=live }}</ref> As of 2026, only [[Russia]] has granted the Taliban government [[diplomatic recognition]].<ref>{{Cite web |title= Russia becomes the first country to formally recognize Taliban's latest rule in Afghanistan|url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-afghanistan-formally-recognize-taliban-3932240270463715f0338c0812cbe5a8 |access-date=17 August 2025 |date=4 July 2025 |publisher=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref><!-- AS PER WIKIPEDIA POLICY, please do not add extra paragraphs and keep it at 4 maximum. Please see [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section]] for further details. -->

== Etymology == The word ''Taliban'' is Pashto, {{lang|ps|طَالِباَنْ}} ({{transliteration|ps|ṭālibān}}), meaning "students", the plural of {{transliteration|ps|[[Talibe|ṭālib]]}}. This is a [[loanword]] from Arabic {{lang|ar|طَالِبْ}} ({{transliteration|ar|ṭālib}}), using the Pashto plural ending ''-ān'' {{lang|ps|اَنْ}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of TALIBAN |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Taliban |access-date=8 July 2021 |website=merriam-webster.com |archive-date=18 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718084857/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Taliban |url-status=live }}</ref> (In Arabic {{lang|ar|طَالِبَانْ}} ({{transliteration|ar|ṭālibān}}) means not "students" but rather "two students", as it is a [[Dual (grammatical number)|dual]] form, the Arabic plural being {{lang|ar|طُلَّابْ}} ({{transliteration|ar|ṭullāb}})—occasionally causing some confusion to Arabic speakers.) Since becoming a loanword in English, ''Taliban'', besides a plural noun referring to the group, has also been used as a singular noun referring to an individual. For example, [[John Walker Lindh]] has been referred to as "an American Taliban" rather than "an American Talib" in domestic media. This is different in Afghanistan, where a member or a supporter of the group is referred to as a ''Talib'' (طَالِبْ) or its plural ''Talib-ha'' (طَالِبْهَا). In other definitions, Taliban means 'seekers'.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Taliban |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125133400/https://www.lexico.com/definition/taliban |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 November 2020 |title=Taliban |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref>

In English, the spelling ''Taliban'' has gained predominance over the spelling ''Taleban''.<ref name="Arabic Dictionary">{{Cite web |date=28 December 2006 |title=English <-> Arabic Online Dictionary |url=http://online.ectaco.co.uk/main.jsp?do=e-services-dictionaries-word_translate1&status=translate&lang1=23&lang2=ar&source_id=2248807 |access-date=2 September 2012 |publisher=Online.ectaco.co.uk |archive-date=23 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723231626/http://online.ectaco.co.uk/main.jsp?do=e-services-dictionaries-word_translate1&status=translate&lang1=23&lang2=ar&source_id=2248807 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Curtis |first=Adam |title=From 'Taleban' to 'Taliban' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2009/06/from_taleban_to_taliban.html |access-date=2 September 2012 |publisher=BBC |archive-date=11 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311112352/http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2009/06/from_taleban_to_taliban.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In [[American English]], the [[definite article]] is used, the group is referred to as "the Taliban", rather than "Taliban". In English-language media in Pakistan, the definite article is always omitted.<ref>{{Citation |title=Intra-Afghan peace talks set to begin in Doha |date=6 September 2020 |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1578164 |work=Dawn |access-date=22 December 2020 |archive-date=16 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201216234055/https://www.dawn.com/news/1578164 |url-status=live }}</ref> Both [[Pakistani English|Pakistani]] and [[Indian English]]-language media tend to name the group "Afghan Taliban",<ref>{{Citation |title=Pakistan cautions Afghan Taliban against spoilers |date=26 August 2020 |url=https://nation.com.pk/26-Aug-2020/pakistan-cautions-afghan-taliban-against-spoilers |work=The Nation |access-date=22 December 2020 |archive-date=22 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922120920/https://nation.com.pk/26-Aug-2020/pakistan-cautions-afghan-taliban-against-spoilers |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=US President Trump's Afghan troop withdrawal is a gift to the Taliban |date=28 November 2020 |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/us-president-trumps-afghan-troop-withdrawal-is-a-gift-to-the-taliban-921044.html |work=Deccan Herald |access-date=22 December 2020 |archive-date=19 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210719071110/https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/us-president-trumps-afghan-troop-withdrawal-is-a-gift-to-the-taliban-921044.html |url-status=live }}</ref> thus distinguishing it from the [[Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan|Pakistani Taliban]]. Additionally, in Pakistan, the word ''Talibans'' is often used when referring to more than one Taliban member. The group is also sometimes referred to as the Taliban Islamic Movement or Islamic Movement of Taliban.<ref>{{Cite web|date=4 September 2015|title=Introduction of the newly appointed leader of Islamic Emirate, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan|url=http://shahamat-english.com/introduction-of-the-newly-appointed-leader-of-islamic-emirate-mullah-akhtar-mohammad-mansur-may-allah-safeguard-hi|access-date=23 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904012126/http://shahamat-english.com/introduction-of-the-newly-appointed-leader-of-islamic-emirate-mullah-akhtar-mohammad-mansur-may-allah-safeguard-hi|archive-date=4 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Brief Introduction of Members of the Negotiating Team of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan|date=30 September 2020|url=https://alemarahenglish.af/?p=37743|access-date=23 December 2021|archive-date=8 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808032116/https://alemarahenglish.af/?p=37743|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In Afghanistan, the Taliban is frequently called the {{lang|fa|گرُوهِ طَالِبَانْ}} ({{transliteration|fa|Goroh-e Taleban}}), a Dari term which means 'Taliban group'.<ref>{{Cite web |title=اعلام آماده‌گی طالبان برای گفت‌وگوهای صلح با امریکا |url=https://tolonews.com/fa/afghanistan/%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A2%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%87%E2%80%8C%DA%AF%DB%8C-%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%DB%8C-%DA%AF%D9%81%D8%AA%E2%80%8C%D9%88%DA%AF%D9%88%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%B5%D9%84%D8%AD-%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B1%DB%8C%DA%A9%D8%A7 |access-date=19 August 2021 |website=طلوع‌نیوز |language=fa |archive-date=16 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816165544/https://tolonews.com/fa/afghanistan/%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A2%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%87%E2%80%8C%DA%AF%DB%8C-%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%DB%8C-%DA%AF%D9%81%D8%AA%E2%80%8C%D9%88%DA%AF%D9%88%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%B5%D9%84%D8%AD-%D8%A8%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B1%DB%8C%DA%A9%D8%A7 |url-status=live }}</ref> As per Dari/Persian grammar, there is no "the" prefix. Meanwhile, in Pashto, a [[determiner (linguistics)|determiner]] is normally used and as a result, the group is normally referred to as per Pashto grammar: {{lang|ps|دَ طَالِبَانْ}} ({{transliteration|pa|Da Taliban}}) or {{lang|ps|دَ طَالِبَانُو}} ({{transliteration|pa|Da Talibano}}).

== Background == {{Main|Afghan conflict}}

{{further|History of Afghanistan (1978–1992)|History of Afghanistan (1992–present)}}

=== Soviet intervention in Afghanistan (1978–1992) === [[File:Reagan sitting with people from the Afghanistan-Pakistan region in February 1983.jpg|thumb|President [[Ronald Reagan]] meeting with [[Afghan Mujahideen]] leaders in the Oval Office in 1983]] After the Soviet Union [[Afghan conflict#Soviet intervention|intervened and occupied Afghanistan]] in 1979, Islamic mujahideen fighters waged a war against Soviet forces. During the [[Soviet–Afghan War]], nearly all of the Taliban's original leaders had fought for either the [[Hezb-i Islami Khalis]] or the [[Harakat-i Inqilab-e Islami]] factions of the Mujahideen.<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 March 2013 |title=Afghanistan: Political Parties and Insurgent Groups 1978–2001 |url=https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/1154721/1226_1369733568_ppig1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2021 |website=ecoi.net |publisher=[[Refugee Review Tribunal|Australian Refugee Review Tribunal]] |pages=18–19 |quote=Most of the original Taliban leaders came from the same three southern [[Provinces of Afghanistan|provinces]]—[[Kandahar Province|Kandahar]], [[Uruzgan Province|Uruzgan]] and [[Helmand Province|Helmand]]—and nearly all of them fought for one of the two main clerical resistance parties during the war against the Soviets: Hezb-e Islami (Khales) and Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi's Harakat-I Ineqelab-ye Islami. The Taliban's fighting ranks were mostly filled with veterans of the war against Soviet forces. |archive-date=11 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811082125/https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/1154721/1226_1369733568_ppig1.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Pakistan's President [[Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq]] feared that the Soviets were also planning to invade [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan]], Pakistan, so he sent [[Akhtar Abdur Rahman]] to Saudi Arabia to garner support for the Afghan resistance against Soviet occupation forces. A while later, the US [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and the Saudi Arabian [[General Intelligence Directorate (Saudi Arabia)|General Intelligence Directorate]] (GID) funnelled funding and equipment through the Pakistani [[Inter-Services Intelligence|Inter-Service Intelligence Agency]] (ISI) to the Afghan mujahideen.<ref name="Price">{{Cite web |title=Pakistan: A Plethora of Problems |url=http://globalsecuritystudies.com/Price%20Pakistan.pdf |access-date=22 December 2012 |website=Global Security Studies, Winter 2012, Volume 3, Issue 1, by Colin Price, School of Graduate and Continuing Studies in Diplomacy |location=Norwich University, Northfield, VT. |archive-date=16 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210716232735/http://globalsecuritystudies.com/Price%20Pakistan.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> About 90,000 Afghans, including Mullah Omar, were trained by Pakistan's ISI during the 1980s.<ref name="Price" />

=== Afghan Civil War (1992–1996) === {{See also|Afghan Civil War (1992–1996)|Battle of Kabul (1992–1996)}} In April 1992, after the fall of the [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|Soviet-backed régime]] of [[Mohammad Najibullah]], many Afghan political parties agreed on a peace and power-sharing agreement, the [[Peshawar Accord]], which created the [[Islamic State of Afghanistan]] and appointed an interim government for a transitional period. [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]]'s [[Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin]], [[Hezbe Wahdat]], and [[Ittihad-i Islami]] did not participate. The state was paralysed from the start, due to rival groups contending for total power over [[Kabul]] and Afghanistan.<ref name="photius, peshawar">[https://photius.com/countries/afghanistan/government/afghanistan_government_the_peshawar_accord~72.html 'The Peshawar Accord, 25 April 1992'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304125236/https://photius.com/countries/afghanistan/government/afghanistan_government_the_peshawar_accord~72.html |date=4 March 2021 }}. Website photius.com. Text from 1997, purportedly sourced on The Library of Congress Country Studies (US) and CIA World Factbook. Retrieved 22 December 2017.</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2021}}

Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin party refused to recognise the interim government, and in April infiltrated Kabul to take power for itself, thus starting this civil war. In May, Hekmatyar started attacks against government forces and Kabul.<ref name="Human Rights Watch (4)" /> Hekmatyar received operational, financial and military support from Pakistan's ISI.<ref name="Neamatollah Nojumi">{{Cite book |first=Neamatollah |last=Nojumi |title=The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War, and the Future of the Region |publisher=Palgrave|location= New York |year=2002 }}{{ISBN?}}</ref> With that help, Hekmatyar's forces were able to destroy half of Kabul.<ref name="Amin Saikal" /> Iran assisted the Hezbe Wahdat forces of [[Abdul Ali Mazari]]. Saudi Arabia supported the Ittihad-i Islami faction.<ref name="Human Rights Watch (4)">{{Cite web |title=Blood-Stained Hands, Past Atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan's Legacy of Impunity |date=6 July 2005 |url=https://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2005/07/06/blood-stained-hands |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |access-date=4 December 2016 |archive-date=13 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113150933/http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2005/07/06/blood-stained-hands |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Amin Saikal">{{Cite book |first=Amin |last=Saikal |title=Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival |publisher=I.B. Tauris & Co |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-85043-437-5 |edition= |location=London & New York |page=352 |author-link=Amin Saikal}}</ref><ref name="Roy Gutman">Gutman, Roy (2008): ''How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and the Hijacking of Afghanistan'', Endowment of the United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC.{{ISBN?}}{{page needed|date=July 2023}}</ref> The conflict between these militias also escalated into war.

Due to this sudden initiation of civil war, working government departments, police units or a system of justice and accountability for the newly created Islamic State of Afghanistan did not have time to form. Atrocities were committed by individuals inside different factions.<ref>[https://www.hrw.org/report/2005/07/06/blood-stained-hands/past-atrocities-kabul-and-afghanistans-legacy-impunity "Blood-Stained Hands, Past Atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan's Legacy of Impunity"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923102534/https://www.hrw.org/report/2005/07/06/blood-stained-hands/past-atrocities-kabul-and-afghanistans-legacy-impunity |date=23 September 2019 }}. [[Human Rights Watch]]. 6 July 2005.</ref> Ceasefires, negotiated by representatives of the Islamic State's newly appointed Defense Minister [[Ahmad Shah Massoud]], President [[Sibghatullah Mojaddedi]] and later President [[Burhanuddin Rabbani]] (the interim government), or officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), commonly collapsed within days.<ref name="Human Rights Watch (4)" /> The countryside in northern Afghanistan, parts of which were under the control of Defense Minister Massoud, remained calm and some reconstruction took place. The city of Herat under the rule of Islamic State ally [[Ismail Khan]] also witnessed relative calm.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} Meanwhile, southern Afghanistan was neither under the control of foreign-backed militias nor the government in Kabul, but was ruled by local leaders such as [[Gul Agha Sherzai]] and their militias.

== History == {{Main|History of the Taliban}}

{{Further|Afghan Civil War (1996–2001)|Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|Taliban insurgency}}

The Taliban movement originated in [[Pashtun nationalism]], and its ideological underpinnings are with that of broader Afghan society. Pakistan was heavily involved in creating the Taliban in 1994.<ref name="Shaffer">{{cite book |last=Shaffer|first=Brenda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEOd-cDWVwQC&pg=PA267|title=The Limits of Culture: Islam and Foreign Policy|publisher=MIT Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-262-19529-4|page=267|quote=Pakistani involvement in creating the movement is seen as central}}</ref><ref name="Forsythe32">{{cite book |last=Forsythe|first=David P|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QbX90fmCVUC&pg=PA2|title=Encyclopedia of Human Rights|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-19-533402-9|volume=1: Afghanistan-Democracy and the Right to Participate|page=2|quote=In 1994 the Taliban was created, funded and inspired by Pakistan}}</ref><ref name="Jones">{{cite book |last=Jones|first=Owen Bennett|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t8iYEgPYG_EC&pg=PA240|title=Pakistan: Eye of the Storm|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-300-10147-8|page=240|quote=The ISI's undemocratic tendencies are not restricted to its interference in the electoral process. The organisation also played a major role in creating the Taliban movement.}}</ref><ref name="Randal">{{cite book |last=Randal|first=Jonathan C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SkFzKgI129gC&pg=PA26|title=Osama: The Making of a Terrorist|publisher=I.B.Tauris|year=2012|isbn=978-1-78076-055-1|page=26|quote=Pakistan had all but invented the Taliban, the so-called Koranic students}}</ref><ref name="Peiman">{{cite book |last=Peimani|first=Hooman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rpIsheVoC9QC&pg=PA14|title=Falling Terrorism and Rising Conflicts: The Afghan "Contribution" to Polarization and Confrontation in West and South Asia|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2003|isbn=978-0-275-97857-0|page=14|quote=Pakistan was the main supporter of the Taliban since its military intelligence, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) formed the group in 1994}}</ref> The Taliban's roots lie in the religious schools of [[Kandahar]] and were influenced significantly by foreign support, particularly from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, during the Soviet–Afghan War. They emerged in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s, capturing Kandahar and expanding their control across the country; they became involved in a war with the [[Northern Alliance]]. The international response to the Taliban varied, with some countries providing support while others opposed and did not recognize their regime.

During their rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban implemented strict religious regulations, notably affecting women's rights and cultural heritage. This period included significant ethnic persecution and the destruction of the [[Buddhas of Bamiyan]]. After the US-led invasion in 2001, the Taliban were ousted from power but regrouped and launched an insurgency that lasted two decades.

The Taliban returned to power in 2021 following the [[Withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan (2020–2021)|US withdrawal]]. Their efforts to establish the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan continue, with education policies and international relations, including internal and external challenges faced by the Taliban regime.

=== 2021 offensive and return to power === {{Main|2021 Taliban offensive|Fall of Kabul (2021)}}

[[File:2021 Taliban Offensive.png|thumb|A map of Afghanistan showing the [[2021 Taliban offensive]]]] In mid-2021, the Taliban led a major offensive in Afghanistan during the withdrawal of US troops from the country, which gave them control of over half of Afghanistan's 421 districts as of 23 July 2021.<ref name="Taliban Consolidation and Foothold">{{Cite news |last=Stewart |first=Idrees |date=21 July 2021 |title=Taliban Consolidation and Foothold |work= |publisher=Reuters, Asia Pacific |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/half-all-afghan-district-centers-under-taliban-control-us-general-2021-07-21/ |access-date=26 July 2021 |ref=Milley said more than 200 of the 419 district centers were under Taliban control. Last month, he had said the Taliban controlled 81 district centers in Afghanistan. |archive-date=20 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820164716/https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/half-all-afghan-district-centers-under-taliban-control-us-general-2021-07-21/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Roggio |first=Bill |date=9 July 2021 |title=Taliban squeezes Afghan government by seizing key border towns |publisher=FDD's Long War Journal |url=https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2021/07/taliban-squeezes-afghan-government-by-seizing-key-border-towns.php |access-date=11 July 2021 |archive-date=18 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818210541/https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2021/07/taliban-squeezes-afghan-government-by-seizing-key-border-towns.php |url-status=live }}</ref> By mid-August 2021, the Taliban controlled every major city in Afghanistan; following the [[Battle of Kabul (2021)|near seizure of the capital Kabul]], the Taliban occupied the [[Arg (Kabul)|Presidential Palace]] after incumbent President [[Ashraf Ghani]] fled Afghanistan to the United Arab Emirates.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Santora |first1=Marc |last2=Rosenberg |first2=Matthew |last3=Nossiter |first3=Adam |date=18 August 2021 |title=The Afghan president who fled the country is now in the U.A.E. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/18/world/asia/ashraf-ghani-uae-afghanistan.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818144728/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/18/world/asia/ashraf-ghani-uae-afghanistan.html |archive-date=18 August 2021 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=26 August 2021 |website=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title='We failed in politics': Exiled Afghan president refuses to blame military |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/video/exiled-afghan-president-ghani-releases-video-message-from-uae-118981701935 |access-date=26 August 2021 |publisher=NBC News |quote=''[Translated]'' I am currently in the Emirates to prevent bloodshed}}</ref> Ghani's asylum was confirmed by the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (United Arab Emirates)|UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation]] on 18 August 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Statement on President Ashraf Ghani |url=https://www.mofaic.gov.ae/en/mediahub/news/2021/8/18/18-08-2021-uae-statement |access-date=26 August 2021 |website=mofaic.gov.ae |archive-date=17 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717085800/https://www.mofaic.gov.ae/en/mediahub/news/2021/8/18/18-08-2021-uae-statement |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=19 August 2021 |title=Afghan president latest leader on the run to turn up in UAE |url=https://apnews.com/article/europe-middle-east-39610b0102a926c1a573da3d6feb0eea |access-date=26 August 2021 |website=AP NEWS}}</ref> Remaining Afghan forces under the leadership of [[Amrullah Saleh]], [[Ahmad Massoud]], and [[Bismillah Khan Mohammadi]] retreated to Panjshir to continue resistance.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kramer |first=Andrew E. |date=18 August 2021 |title=Leaders in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley defy the Taliban and demand an inclusive government. |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/18/world/asia/taliban-panjshir-valley.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/18/world/asia/taliban-panjshir-valley.html |archive-date=28 December 2021 |url-access=limited |access-date=18 August 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Leadership |url=http://www.nrfafg.org/leadership |access-date=21 August 2021 |website=The National Resistance Front: Fighting for a Free Afghanistan |publisher=National Resistance Front of Afghanistan |archive-date=4 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904145638/https://www.nrfafg.org/leadership |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=18 August 2021 |title='Panjshir stands strong': Afghanistan's last holdout against the Taliban |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/18/panjshir-stands-strong-afghanistans-last-holdout-against-the-taliban |access-date=19 August 2021 |website=The Guardian |archive-date=24 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230524041441/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/18/panjshir-stands-strong-afghanistans-last-holdout-against-the-taliban |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (2021–present) === [[File:Taliban Humvee in Kabul, August 2021 (cropped).png|thumb|Taliban [[Humvee]] in Kabul, August 2021]] [[File:Taliban member with chest flags.png|thumb|A Taliban member with chest flags in Kabul, August 2022]] The Taliban seized power from a government supported by some of the world’s most advanced militaries. As an ideological insurgent movement seeking to establish an Islamic state, its victory has been compared by commentators to the [[Chinese Communist Revolution]] of 1949 and the [[Iranian Revolution]] of 1979, both of which reshaped their societies. However, in interviews conducted in 2021–2022, senior Taliban leaders emphasized the relative moderation of their revolution and expressed a desire for constructive relations with the United States, according to journalist [[Jon Lee Anderson]].<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" />

Anderson notes that the Taliban’s earlier campaign [[Aniconism in Islam|against images and iconography]] has largely been abandoned, a change he suggests may be linked to the ubiquity of smartphones and social media. Local political figure Sayed Hamid Gailani argued that the Taliban have not carried out widespread killings since returning to power. Women continue to appear in public, and Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid stated that some women remain employed in government ministries. He also claimed that girls would be permitted to attend secondary school once the government had access to frozen bank funds, which he said would allow the creation of separate facilities and transportation.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" />

The [[Ministry of Women's Affairs (Afghanistan)|Ministry of Women’s Affairs]] was closed, and its building repurposed to house the [[Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Afghanistan)|Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice]]. According to [[Jon Lee Anderson]], some women who remained formally employed by the government were required to sign in at their offices but then return home, a practice intended to create the appearance of [[Gender equality|gender equity]]. Anderson also reported that the appointment of ethnic minorities to government positions was described by a Taliban adviser as [[Tokenism|tokenistic]].<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" /> In response to international criticism over the lack of diversity in government appointments, the Taliban named an ethnic [[Hazaras|Hazara]] as deputy health minister and an ethnic [[Tajiks in Afghanistan|Tajik]] as deputy trade minister.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" />

Reports have circulated of Hazara farmers being [[Forced displacement|displaced]] by ethnic Pashtuns, of raids on activists’ homes, and of [[extrajudicial execution]]s of former government soldiers and intelligence agents.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" /> A report released by [[Human Rights Watch]] in November 2021 stated that the Taliban killed or [[Enforced disappearance|forcibly disappeared]] more than 100 former members of the Afghan security forces in the three months following their takeover, in the provinces of Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, and Kunduz. The report indicated that Taliban forces identified targets for arrest and execution through intelligence operations and access to employment records left behind. It also documented cases in which former security personnel were killed within days of registering with the Taliban to obtain letters guaranteeing their safety.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/11/30/no-forgiveness-people-you/executions-and-enforced-disappearances-afghanistan|title=Executions and Enforced Disappearances in Afghanistan under the Taliban|journal=Human Rights Watch|date=30 November 2021|archive-date=28 February 2022|access-date=8 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228194005/https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/11/30/no-forgiveness-people-you/executions-and-enforced-disappearances-afghanistan|url-status=live}}</ref>

When asked about the violence against Hazara Shia communities, the Taliban’s former nominee for [[Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations|ambassador to the United Nations]], spokesman [[Suhail Shaheen]], told Jon Lee Anderson that the Hazara Shia were regarded as fellow Muslims and part of Afghan society: "We believe we are one, like flowers in a garden."<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" />

Explanations for the relative moderation of the new Taliban government include its unexpected rapid takeover of the country, which left internal factions with unresolved issues, and the severe economic constraints created by frozen Afghan government funds abroad. Approximately US$7 billion in Afghan assets held in American banks were blocked, and about 80 percent of the former government’s budget{{em dash}}previously funded by the United States, its partners, and international lenders{{em dash}}was cut off, contributing to a major economic crisis.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" /> According to the United Nations World Food Program country director Mary Ellen McGroarty, 22.8 million Afghans were already severely food insecure by late 2021, with seven million on the brink of famine.<ref>{{cite news |last=McGroarty |first=Mary Ellen |title=Afghanistan: The time to act is now |publisher=World Food Program / UN News |date=2021 |url=https://www.wfp.org/stories/afghanistan-time-act-now |access-date=9 April 2026}}</ref> The international community has expressed reluctance to recognize the Taliban regime, urging it to form an inclusive government, safeguard the rights of women and minorities, and prevent Afghanistan from serving as a base for global terrorist operations.<ref name="Geo News-2021">{{cite news |last1=Haider |first1=Nasim |title=Why is the world not recognizing the Taliban government? |url=https://www.geo.tv/latest/386122-why-is-the-world-not-recognizing-the-taliban-government |access-date=4 March 2022 |agency=AFP |publisher=Geo News |date=6 December 2021 |archive-date=4 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304023207/https://www.geo.tv/latest/386122-why-is-the-world-not-recognizing-the-taliban-government |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WATCH: U.N. Security Council urges inclusive talks on new Afghan government |author=Edith M. Lederer |date=2021 |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/watch-live-u-n-security-council-holds-a-meeting-on-the-situation-in-afghanistan |access-date=9 April 2026}}</ref> In discussions with Jon Lee Anderson, senior Taliban leaders suggested that their strict application of sharia law during the 1990s was a response to the disorder left by the Soviet occupation, but asserted that mercy and compassion were now guiding principles.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" /> Former officials from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs disputed these claims, with one telling Anderson that the Taliban’s conciliatory statements were aimed at securing international financing, and predicted that women would eventually be forced to wear the burqa again.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" />

In late 2021, journalists from ''The New York Times'' [[Embedded journalism|embedded]] with a six-man Taliban unit assigned to protect the Shi‘ite [[Blue Mosque, Kabul|Sakhi Shrine in Kabul]] from attacks by the [[Islamic State]], highlighted that the men appeared to take their task seriously. The unit’s commander stated that their goal was to provide security for all Afghans, regardless of ethnic background.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Blue|first1=Victor J.|last2=Gibbons-Neff|first2=Thomas|last3=Padshah|first3=Safiullah|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-shiites.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128101541/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-shiites.html |archive-date=28 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=On Patrol: 12 Days With a Taliban Police Unit in Kabul|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=28 January 2022|access-date=7 March 2022}}</ref> Although Taliban officials claimed that the Islamic State had been defeated, the group carried out suicide bombings in October 2021 at Shia mosques [[2021 Kunduz mosque bombing|in Kunduz]] and [[2021 Kandahar bombing|Kandahar]], killing more than 115 people. As of late 2021, Kabul continued to experience frequent small-scale attacks, including "[[Improvised explosive device#Afghanistan|sticky bomb]]" explosions occurring every few days, according to Jon Lee Anderson.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" />

After Taliban retook power in 2021, border clashes erupted between the Taliban with its neighbors includes [[2021 Afghanistan–Iran clashes|Iran]] and [[Afghanistan–Pakistan border skirmishes|Pakistan]], leading to casualties on both sides.<ref>{{cite news |title=Clashes over Iran-Afghanistan's 'border misunderstanding' ended |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/clashes-over-iran-afghanistans-border-misunderstanding-ended-2021-12-01/ |access-date=1 December 2021 |publisher=Reuters |date=1 December 2021 |archive-date=1 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201231650/https://www.reuters.com/world/clashes-over-iran-afghanistans-border-misunderstanding-ended-2021-12-01/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=طالبان تسيطر على مواقع ونقاط حراسة ايرانية على الحدود المشتركة |url=https://www.albawaba.com/ar/%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1/%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%83-%D8%B6%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%AD%D8%B1%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A-1457282 |access-date=1 December 2021 |publisher=Al Bawaba |date=1 December 2021 |archive-date=1 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201192856/https://www.albawaba.com/ar/%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1/%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%83-%D8%B6%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%AD%D8%B1%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A-1457282 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the early months of Taliban rule, international journalists have had some access to Afghanistan. In February 2022, several foreign journalists, including [[Andrew North (journalist)|Andrew North]], were detained. The [[Committee to Protect Journalists]] described the incident as indicative of a broader decline in press freedom and increasing attacks on journalists under Taliban rule.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Crouch |first1=Erik |title=Taliban arrests 2 journalists on assignment with United Nations |url=https://cpj.org/2022/02/taliban-arrests-2-journalists-on-assignment-with-united-nations/ |website=Committee to Protect Journalists |access-date=27 July 2023 |date=11 February 2022 |archive-date=27 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727053140/https://cpj.org/2022/02/taliban-arrests-2-journalists-on-assignment-with-united-nations/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The journalists were released after several days.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Korpar |first1=Lora |title=Taliban Says It Released Detained UN Journalist Andrew North, Others |url=https://www.newsweek.com/taliban-says-it-released-detained-un-journalist-andrew-north-others-1678521 |access-date=27 July 2023 |work=Newsweek |date=11 February 2022 |archive-date=27 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727053136/https://www.newsweek.com/taliban-says-it-released-detained-un-journalist-andrew-north-others-1678521 |url-status=live }}</ref> Watchdog organizations have since documented additional arrests of local journalists and restrictions on access for international reporters.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Crouch |first1=Erik |title=Taliban intelligence forces detain Afghan journalist Irfanullah Baidar |url=https://cpj.org/2023/07/taliban-intelligence-forces-detain-afghan-journalist-irfanullah-baidar/ |website=Committee to Protect Journalists |access-date=27 July 2023 |date=21 July 2023 |archive-date=27 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727055020/https://cpj.org/2023/07/taliban-intelligence-forces-detain-afghan-journalist-irfanullah-baidar/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The country's small community of [[Sikhs]]{{em dash}}who form Afghanistan's second largest religious minority<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.thejaipurdialogues.com/society/s-jaishankar-a-beacon-of-hope-for-afghan-sikhs/ | title=S. Jaishankar a Beacon of Hope for Afghan Sikhs | date=11 June 2023 | access-date=17 April 2024 | archive-date=17 July 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240717192447/https://www.thejaipurdialogues.com/society/s-jaishankar-a-beacon-of-hope-for-afghan-sikhs/ | url-status=live }}</ref>{{em dash}}as well as [[Hindus]], were reported to have been prevented from publicly celebrating their holidays in 2023 by the Taliban government.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Negah |first=Freshta |title='Forced To Dress Like a Muslim': Taliban Imposes Restrictions On Afghanistan's Sikh, Hindu Minorities |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-sikh-hindu-muslim-taliban-restrictions/32559175.html |access-date=17 April 2024 |work=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty}}</ref> The Taliban issued a later statement praising these communities and assured that their private land and property will be secured.<ref name="Bhattacherjee">{{Cite news |last=Bhattacherjee |first=Kallol |date=15 April 2024 |title=Taliban is 'particularly committed' to protect rights of Hindus and Sikhs: Spokesperson of Taliban 'Justice Ministry' |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/taliban-is-particularly-committed-to-protect-rights-of-hindus-and-sikhs-spokesperson-of-taliban-justice-ministry/article68068378.ece |access-date=17 April 2024 |work=The Hindu |issn=0971-751X |archive-date=17 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240417172833/https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/taliban-is-particularly-committed-to-protect-rights-of-hindus-and-sikhs-spokesperson-of-taliban-justice-ministry/article68068378.ece |url-status=live }}</ref> In April 2024, the former sole Sikh member of parliament, [[Narendra Singh Khalsa]], returned to Afghanistan for the first time since the collapse of the Republic.<ref name="Bhattacherjee" />

====Current education policy==== In September 2021, the government ordered [[primary school]]s to reopen for both sexes and announced plans to reopen [[secondary education|secondary schools]] for male students, without committing to do the same for female students.<ref name="Graham-Harrison 09/17/21">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/17/taliban-ban-girls-from-secondary-education-in-afghanistan |title=Taliban ban girls from secondary education in Afghanistan |last=Graham-Harrison |first=Emma |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=17 September 2021 |access-date=18 September 2021 |archive-date=17 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917235303/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/17/taliban-ban-girls-from-secondary-education-in-afghanistan |url-status=live }}</ref> While the Taliban stated that female college students would be able to resume [[Higher education in Afghanistan|higher education]], provided that they were segregated from male students (and professors, when possible),<ref name="Reuters 09/12/21">{{Cite web|date=13 September 2021|title=Taliban say women can study at university but classes must be segregated|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/taliban-say-woman-can-study-university-classes-must-be-segregated-2021-09-12/|access-date=21 September 2021|website=[[Reuters]]|archive-date=10 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220210200712/https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/taliban-say-woman-can-study-university-classes-must-be-segregated-2021-09-12/|url-status=live}}</ref> ''The Guardian'' noted that failing to reopen high schools for girls could prevent women from being eligible for admission in higher education, thus rendering the Taliban government's pledge meaningless.<ref name="Graham-Harrison 09/17/21"/> [[Ministry of Higher Education (Afghanistan)|Higher Education Minister]] [[Abdul Baqi Haqqani]] said that female university students would be required to observe proper [[hijab]], but did not specify whether this required covering the face.<ref name="Reuters 09/12/21"/>

[[Kabul University]] reopened in February 2022, with female students attending in the morning and male students in the afternoon. Other than the closure of the music department, few changes to the curriculum have been reported.<ref name="AP Reopening">{{cite web|last=Kullab|first=Samya|url=https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-education-higher-education-kabul-taliban-e57683e739550cb4a14687a96d5191dc?utm|title=Afghan students return to Kabul U, but with restrictions|work=[[Associated Press]]|date=26 February 2022|access-date=23 March 2022|archive-date=4 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704024212/https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-education-higher-education-kabul-taliban-e57683e739550cb4a14687a96d5191dc?utm|url-status=live}}</ref> Women were officially required to wear an [[abaya]] and a hijab to attend, although some wore a [[shawl]] instead. Attendance was reportedly low on the first day.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wali|first=Qubad|url=https://sg.news.yahoo.com/afghan-universities-reopen-few-women-124047855.html|title=Afghan universities reopen, but few women return|work=[[Agence France-Presse]]|date=26 February 2022|access-date=27 February 2022|archive-date=20 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320234912/https://sg.news.yahoo.com/afghan-universities-reopen-few-women-124047855.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In March 2022, the Taliban abruptly halted plans to allow girls to resume secondary school education, even when separated from males.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Greenfield |first1=Charlotte |title=Taliban to open high schools for girls next week, official says |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-open-high-schools-girls-next-week-official-says-2022-03-17/ |work=Reuters |date=17 March 2022 |archive-date=12 April 2022 |access-date=12 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412033558/https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-open-high-schools-girls-next-week-official-says-2022-03-17/ |url-status=live }}</ref> At the time, ''The Washington Post'' reported that apart from university, the sixth grade became the highest level of education attainable for girls in the Afghan educational system. The country's Ministry of Education cited the lack of an acceptable design for female student uniforms.<ref>{{cite news|last=George|first=Susannah|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/23/taliban-afghan-girls-school-secondary/|title=Taliban reopens Afghan schools – except for girls after sixth grade|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=23 March 2022|access-date=23 March 2022|archive-date=18 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231218131919/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/23/taliban-afghan-girls-school-secondary/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 20 December 2022, the Taliban banned female students from attending higher education institutions with immediate effect.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Greenfield |first1=Charlotte |last2=Yawar |first2=Mohammad Yunus |date=20 December 2022 |title=Taliban-led Afghan administration suspends women from universities |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-led-afghan-administration-says-female-students-suspended-universities-2022-12-20/ |access-date=20 December 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=22 December 2022 |title=Afghanistan: Taliban ban women from universities amid condemnation |work=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64045497 |access-date=22 December 2022 |archive-date=26 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231226070641/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64045497 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Popalzai |first1=Ehsan |last2=Kottasová |first2=Ivana |date=20 December 2022 |title=Taliban suspend university education for women in Afghanistan |work=CNN |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/20/asia/taliban-bans-women-university-education-intl/index.html |access-date=20 December 2022 |archive-date=22 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221222001750/https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/20/asia/taliban-bans-women-university-education-intl/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The following day, 21 December 2022, the Taliban revoked their plans for gender-inclusive education altogether and instituted a ban on all education for all girls and women around the country, alongside a ban on female staff in schools, including teaching professions. Teaching was one of the last few remaining professions open to women.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Engel Rasmussen |first=Sune |date=21 December 2022 |title=Afghanistan's Taliban Ban All Education for Girls |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/afghanistans-taliban-ban-all-education-for-girls-11671642870 |access-date=22 December 2022 |archive-date=4 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204082213/https://www.wsj.com/articles/afghanistans-taliban-ban-all-education-for-girls-11671642870 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Ideology and aims == {{Deobandi}} Scholarship places the Taliban's ideology on the [[far-right]] of the [[left–right political spectrum]].<ref name="GlobalCrimeDrugTrade" /> It has been described as an "innovative form of ''[[sharia]]'' combining Pashtun tribal codes",<ref name="Muslim World 2004">{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Richard C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TTUOAQAAMAAJ |title=Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World |date=2004 |publisher=Macmillan Reference US |isbn=978-0-02-865605-2}}</ref> or [[Pashtunwali]], with radical Deobandi interpretations of Islam favoured by [[Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam]] and its splinter groups.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|pp=132, 139}}.</ref> Their ideology was a departure from the [[Islamism]] of the [[Afghan mujahidin|anti-Soviet mujahideen rulers]]{{Clarify|reason=|date=October 2017}} and the radical Islamists{{Clarify|reason=|date=October 2017}} inspired by the [[Sayyid Qutb]] (Ikhwan).<ref>{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|p=87}}.</ref> The Taliban have said they aim to restore peace and security to Afghanistan, including Western troops leaving, and to enforce ''Sharia'', or Islamic law, once in power.<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 August 2021 |title=Who are the Taliban? |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-11451718 |archive-date=25 August 2021 |access-date=17 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825203413/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-11451718 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Interview with Taliban Spokesperson |url=https://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/taliban2.htm |website=fas.org |access-date=12 August 2021 |archive-date=13 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813021609/https://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/taliban2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=What Does the Taliban Want? |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/what-does-taliban-want |website=wilsoncenter.org |date=6 October 2020 |access-date=12 August 2021 |archive-date=14 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814111336/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/what-does-taliban-want |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to journalist [[Ahmed Rashid]], at least in the first years of their rule, the Taliban adopted Deobandi and Islamist anti-nationalist beliefs, and they opposed "tribal and feudal structures", removing traditional tribal or feudal leaders from leadership roles.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|p=92}}.</ref>

The Taliban strictly enforced their ideology in major cities like Herat, Kabul, and Kandahar. But in rural areas, the Taliban had little direct control, and as a result, they promoted village [[jirga]]s, so in rural areas, they did not enforce their ideology as stringently as they enforced it in cities.<ref>Griffiths 227.</ref>

=== Ideological influences === The Taliban's religious/political philosophy, especially during its first régime from 1996 to 2001, was heavily advised and influenced by [[Grand Mufti]] [[Rashid Ahmed Ludhianvi]] and his works. Its operating political and religious principles since its founding, however, were modeled on those of [[Abul A'la Maududi]] and the [[Jamaat-e-Islami]] movement.<ref>{{Cite web |date=26 December 2012 |title=Influences that Shaped Taliban Ideology |url=https://www.e-ir.info/2012/12/26/influences-that-shaped-taliban-ideology/ |access-date=6 May 2022 |website=E-International Relations |archive-date=11 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611151631/https://www.e-ir.info/2012/12/26/influences-that-shaped-taliban-ideology/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Pashtun nationalism ==== The Taliban, being largely Pashtun tribespeople, frequently follow a pre-Islamic cultural tribal code focused on preserving honor.<ref name="Whine 54–72">{{Cite journal |last=Whine|first=Michael|date=1 September 2001|title=Islamism and Totalitarianism: Similarities and Differences|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/714005450|journal=[[Politics, Religion & Ideology|Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions]]|volume=2|issue=2|pages=54–72|doi=10.1080/714005450|s2cid=146940668|issn=1469-0764|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="Maley 1998 14" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ayoob|first=Mohammed|date=10 January 2019|title=The Taliban and the Changing Nature of Pashtun Nationalism|url=https://nationalinterest.org/feature/taliban-and-changing-nature-pashtun-nationalism-41182|access-date=|website=[[The National Interest]]|archive-date=27 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221127020716/https://nationalinterest.org/feature/taliban-and-changing-nature-pashtun-nationalism-41182|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="dni.gov">{{Cite web |title=National Counterterrorism Center: Groups|url=https://www.dni.gov/nctc/groups/afghan_taliban.html|access-date=7 October 2022|website=DNI}}</ref><ref name="Bokhari-Senzai 2013">{{cite book|title=Political Islam in the Age of Democratization|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|year=2013|isbn=978-1-137-31349-2|editor1-last=Bokhari|editor1-first=Kamran|location=[[New York City|New York]]|pages=119–133|chapter=Rejector Islamists: Taliban and Nationalist Jihadism|doi=10.1057/9781137313492_7|editor2-last=Senzai|editor2-first=Farid|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ThiuAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA119}}</ref> [[Pashtunwali]] strongly influences decisions regarding other social matters. It is best described as subconscious social values and attitudes promoting various qualities such as bravery, preserving honor, being hospitable to all guests, seeking revenge and justice if one has been wronged, and providing sanctuary to anyone who seeks refuge, even an enemy. However, non-Pashtuns and others usually criticize some of the values, such as the Pashtun practice of equally dividing inheritances among sons, even though the Qur'an clearly states that women are supposed to receive one-half of a man's share.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peoples and Ethnic Groups – Pashtunwali: The Code |url=http://uwf.edu/atcdev/afghanistan/people/Lesson6Pastunwali.html |website=uwf.edu |access-date=24 August 2014 |archive-date=4 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104024914/http://uwf.edu/atcdev/Afghanistan/People/Lesson6Pastunwali.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|first1=Ragaa |last1=Hathout |first2=Abdelhameed |last2=Youness|date=23 March 2008|title=Inheritance in Islam|url=http://www.lubnaa.com/article.php?id=301|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708172816/http://www.lubnaa.com/article.php?id=301|archive-date=8 July 2018|access-date=21 January 2018|website=Lubnaa.com}}</ref>

According to Ali A. Jalali and Lester Grau, the Taliban "received extensive support from Pashtuns across the country who thought that the movement might restore their national dominance. Even Pashtun intellectuals in the West, who differed with the Taliban on many issues, expressed support for the movement on purely ethnic grounds."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foreign Military Studies Office, "Whither the Taliban?" by Mr. Ali A. Jalali and Mr. Lester W. Grau |url=https://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/990306-taliban.htm |access-date=2 September 2012 |publisher=Fas.org |archive-date=11 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411073214/https://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/990306-taliban.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Islamic rules under Deobandi politics === [[File:Darul Uloom Deoband.jpg|thumb|The [[Darul Uloom Deoband]] in Uttar Pradesh, India, where the [[Deobandi movement]] began]]

Written works published by the group's Commission of Cultural Affairs, including ''Islami Adalat'', ''De Mujahid Toorah{{snd}} De Jihad Shari Misalay, and Guidance to the Mujahideen'' outlined the core of the Taliban Islamic Movement's views regarding jihad, sharia, organization, and conduct.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Semple|first=Michael|title=Rhetoric, Ideology, and Organizational Structure of the Taliban Movement|publisher=United States Institute of Peace|year=2014|isbn=978-1-60127-274-4|location=Washington, DC |pages=9–11}}</ref> The Taliban régime interpreted the ''Sharia'' law in accordance with the [[Hanafi]] [[Fiqh|school of Islamic jurisprudence]] and the religious edicts of Mullah Omar.{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|pages=37, 42–43}} The Taliban, Mullah Omar in particular, emphasised dreams as a means of revelation.<ref>Roy, Olivier, ''Globalized Islam'', Columbia University Press, 2004, p. 239.</ref><ref>{{cite book|author-link=Steve Coll|last=Coll|first=Steve|title=[[Ghost Wars|Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to 10 September 2001]]|publisher=[[Penguin Group]]|year=2004|isbn=978-1-59420-007-6|pages=288–289}}</ref>

==== Prohibitions ==== The Taliban forbade the consumption of pork and alcohol, the use of many types of consumer technology such as music with instrumental [[accompaniments]],{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|pages=35–36}} television,{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|pages=35–36}} filming,{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|pages=35–36}} and the Internet, as well as most forms of art such as paintings or photography,{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|pages=35–36}} participation in [[sport]]s,{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=35}} including [[association football|football]] and [[chess]];{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=35}} [[recreation]]al activities such as [[kite]]-flying and the keeping of pigeons and other pets were also forbidden, and the birds were killed according to the Taliban's rules.{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=35}} Movie theatres were closed and repurposed as mosques.{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=35}} The celebration of the [[New Year's Day|Western]] and [[Nauroz|Iranian New Years]] was also forbidden.{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=36}} Taking photographs and displaying pictures and portraits were also banned because the Taliban considered them forms of [[Idolatry#Islam|idolatry]].{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=35}} This extended even to "blacking out illustrations on packages of baby soap in shops and painting over road-crossing signs for livestock.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" />

Women were banned from working,{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=34}} girls were forbidden to attend schools or universities,{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=34}} were required to observe ''[[purdah]]'' (physical separation of the sexes) and ''[[awrah]]'' (concealing the body with clothing), and to be accompanied by male relatives outside their households; those who violated these restrictions were punished.{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=34}} Men were forbidden to shave their beards, and they were also required to let them grow and keep them long according to the Taliban's rules, and they were also required to wear turbans outside their households.{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=37}}<ref name="cr">{{Cite web |date=4 March 2002 |title=US Country Report on Human Rights Practices – Afghanistan 2001 |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/sa/8222.htm |access-date=4 March 2020 |publisher=State.gov |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310082903/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/sa/8222.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Salah|Prayer]] was made compulsory. Those men who did not respect the religious obligation after the ''[[Adhan|azaan]]'' were arrested.{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=37}} [[Gambling in Islam|Gambling]] was banned,{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=36}} and the Taliban punished thieves by [[Islam and violence#Islam and crime|amputating their hands or feet]].{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=35}} In 2000, the Taliban's leader Mullah Omar officially banned [[Opium production in Afghanistan|opium cultivation]] and drug trafficking in Afghanistan;{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=39}}<ref name="drugpolicy2005">{{Cite journal |last1=Farrell |first1=Graham |last2=Thorne |first2=John |date=March 2005 |title=Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: Evaluation of the Taliban Crackdown Against Opium Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28576871 |journal=[[International Journal of Drug Policy]] |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=81–91 |doi=10.1016/j.drugpo.2004.07.007 |via=[[ResearchGate]] |archive-date=15 August 2021 |access-date=31 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815132213/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28576871_Where_have_all_the_flowers_gone_Evaluation_of_the_Taliban_crackdown_against_poppy_cultivation_in_Afghanistan |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Maziyar2019">{{Cite book |last=Ghiabi |first=Maziyar |title=Drugs Politics: Managing Disorder in the Islamic Republic of Iran |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-108-47545-7 |location=[[Cambridge]] |pages=101–102 |chapter=Crisis as an Idiom for Reforms |lccn=2019001098 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HoOWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA101}}</ref> the Taliban succeeded in nearly eradicating the majority of the opium production (99%) by 2001.<ref name="drugpolicy2005" /><ref name="Maziyar2019" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Afghanistan, Opium and the Taliban |url=http://opioids.com/afghanistan/index.html |access-date=4 March 2020 |archive-date=8 November 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011108055954/http://opioids.com/afghanistan/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> During the Taliban's governance of Afghanistan, drug users and dealers were both severely persecuted.{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=39}}

==== Views on the Bamyan Buddhas ==== [[File:Taller Buddha of Bamiyan before and after destruction.jpg|thumb|right|Taller Buddha in 1963 and in 2008 after destruction]]

In 1999, Mullah Omar issued a decree in which he called for the protection of the [[Buddhas of Bamiyan|Buddha statues]] at [[Bamyan]], two 6th-century monumental statues of standing [[buddha]]s which were carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley in the [[Hazarajat]] region of central Afghanistan. But in March 2001, the Taliban destroyed the statues, following a decree by Mullah Omar, which stated: "All the statues around Afghanistan must be destroyed."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Harding |first=Luke |date=3 March 2001 |title=How the Buddha got his wounds |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4145138,00.html |access-date=27 August 2010 |archive-date=18 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818213546/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/03/books.guardianreview2 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In March 2001, Omar declared the statues to be idols forbidden by Islamic law. He stated that "Muslims should be proud of smashing idols. It has given praise to Allah that we have destroyed them."<ref>{{cite book |author=Markos Moulitsas Zúniga |url=https://archive.org/details/americantalibanh0000moul |title=American Taliban: How War, Sex, Sin, and Power Bind Jihadists and the Radical Right |publisher=Polipoint Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-936227-02-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americantalibanh0000moul/page/8 8] |quote=Muslims should be proud of smashing idols. |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Later, on 18 March, then-[[ambassador-at-large]] [[Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi]] said that the destruction of the statues was carried out by the Head Council of Scholars after a Swedish monuments expert proposed to restore the statues' heads. Rahmatullah Hashemi is reported as saying: "When the Afghan head council asked them to provide the money to feed the children instead of fixing the statues, they refused and said, 'No, the money is just for the statues, not for the children'. Herein, they made the decision to destroy the statues"; however, he did not comment on the claim that a foreign museum offered to "buy the Buddhist statues, the money from which could have been used to feed children".<ref name=":1">{{cite news |last=Kassaimah |first=Sahar |date=12 January 2001 |title=Afghani Ambassador Speaks at USC |url=http://www.islamonline.net/english/news/2001-03/13/article12.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008012138/http://www.islamonline.net/english/news/2001-03/13/article12.shtml |archive-date=8 October 2007 |access-date=6 January 2008 |publisher=[[IslamOnline]]}}</ref> Rahmatullah Hashemi added: "If we had wanted to destroy those statues, we could have done it three years ago," referring to the start of U.S. sanctions. "In our religion, if anything is harmless, we just leave it. If money is going to statues while children are dying of malnutrition next door, then that makes it harmful, and we destroy it."<ref name="auto">{{cite news |last=Crossette |first=Barbara |date=19 March 2001 |title=Taliban Explains Buddha Demolition |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/19/world/19TALI.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503215139/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/19/world/19TALI.html?ex=1142571600&en=e5ba6c267eada53a&ei=5070 |archive-date=3 May 2009 |access-date=6 January 2008 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> Hashemi denied any religious grounds in the justification of the statues' destruction.<ref name=":1" />

In 2004, following the [[United States invasion of Afghanistan|American invasion of Afghanistan]] and his exile, Omar explained in an interview:{{blockquote|I did not want to destroy the Bamiyan Buddha. In fact, some foreigners came to me and said they would like to conduct the repair work of the Bamiyan Buddha that had been slightly damaged due to rains. This shocked me. I thought, these callous people have no regard for thousands of living human beings—the Afghans who are dying of hunger, but they are so concerned about non-living objects like the Buddha. This was extremely deplorable. That is why I ordered its destruction. Had they come for humanitarian work, I would have never ordered the Buddha's destruction.<ref>{{cite news|author=Mohammad Shehzad |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/apr/12inter.htm |title=The Rediff Interview/Mullah Omar|date=3 March 2001|work=The Rediff|access-date=27 October 2010 | location=Kabul}}</ref>}}

==== Views on ''bacha bazi'' ==== {{Main|Bacha bazi}}

{{further|LGBT in Islam}}

The Afghan custom of ''[[bacha bazi]]'', a form of [[Pederasty|pederastic]] [[sexual slavery]], [[child sexual abuse]] and [[pedophilia]] which is traditionally practiced in various provinces of Afghanistan between older men and young adolescent "dancing boys", was also forbidden under the six-year rule of the Taliban régime.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McFate |first=Montgomery |title=Military Anthropology: Soldiers, Scholars and Subjects at the Margins of Empire |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-19-068017-6 |location=New York City |page=334 |chapter=Conclusion |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190680176.003.0009 |quote=The Taliban outlawed ''bacha bazi'' during their six year-reign in Afghanistan, but as soon as the U.S. overthrew the Taliban, newly-empowered mujahideen warlords rekindled the practice of ''bacha bazi''. |author-link=Montgomery McFate |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=owFgDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA334}}</ref> Under the rule of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, it carried the [[Capital punishment in Islam|death penalty]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 June 2021 |title=What About the Boys: A Gendered Analysis of the U.S. Withdrawal and Bacha Bazi in Afghanistan |url=https://newlinesinstitute.org/afghanistan/what-about-the-boys-a-gendered-analysis-of-the-u-s-withdrawal-and-bacha-bazi-in-afghanistan/ |access-date=18 August 2021 |website=Newlines Institute |archive-date=20 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820103903/https://newlinesinstitute.org/afghanistan/what-about-the-boys-a-gendered-analysis-of-the-u-s-withdrawal-and-bacha-bazi-in-afghanistan/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Bacha bazi: Afghanistan's darkest secret |url=https://humanrights.brightblue.org.uk/blog-1/2017/8/18/bacha-bazi-afghanistans-darkest-secret |access-date=18 August 2021 |website=Human Rights and discrimination |date=18 August 2017 |archive-date=22 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210822052916/https://humanrights.brightblue.org.uk/blog-1/2017/8/18/bacha-bazi-afghanistans-darkest-secret |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The practice remained illegal during the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's rule, but the laws were seldom enforced against powerful offenders, and [[Afghan police|police]] had reportedly been complicit in related crimes.<ref>Quraishi, Najibullah [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/dancingboys/ Uncovering the world of "bacha bazi"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423174554/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/dancingboys/ |date=23 April 2022 }} at ''[[The New York Times]]'' 20 April 2010</ref><ref name="ABCfeb2010">Bannerman, Mark [http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-02-22/the-warlords-tune-afghanistans-war-on-children/338920 The Warlord's Tune: Afghanistan's war on children] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210822030140/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-02-22/the-warlords-tune-afghanistans-war-on-children/338920 |date=22 August 2021 }} at [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] 22 February 2010</ref><ref name="theweek">{{Cite news |date=29 January 2020 |title=Bacha bazi: the scandal of Afghanistan's abused boys |work=The Week |url=https://www.theweek.co.uk/105442/bacha-bazi-the-scandal-of-afghanistan-s-abused-boys |access-date=16 April 2020 |archive-date=22 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210822003619/https://www.theweek.co.uk/105442/bacha-bazi-the-scandal-of-afghanistan-s-abused-boys |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=25 December 2019 |title=Afghanistan must end the practice of bacha bazi, the sexual abuse of boys |work=European Interest |url=https://www.europeaninterest.eu/article/afghanistan-must-end-practice-bacha-bazi-sexual-abuse-boys/ |access-date=16 April 2020 |archive-date=28 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428175258/https://www.europeaninterest.eu/article/afghanistan-must-end-practice-bacha-bazi-sexual-abuse-boys/ |url-status=live }}</ref> A controversy arose during the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's rule, after allegations surfaced that US government forces in Afghanistan after the invasion of the country deliberately ignored ''bacha bazi''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Goldstein |first=Joseph |date=20 September 2015 |title=U.S. Soldiers Told to Ignore Sexual Abuse of Boys by Afghan Allies |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/world/asia/us-soldiers-told-to-ignore-afghan-allies-abuse-of-boys.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921164708/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/world/asia/us-soldiers-told-to-ignore-afghan-allies-abuse-of-boys.html |archive-date=21 September 2015 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=24 January 2018 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The US military responded by claiming the abuse was largely the responsibility of the "local Afghan government".<ref name="Washington Post 09/15">{{Cite news |last=Londoño |first=Ernesto |title=Afghanistan sees rise in 'dancing boys' exploitation |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/afganistans-dancing-boys-are-invisible-victims/2012/04/04/gIQAyreSwS_story.html?tid=pm_world_pop_b |access-date=24 September 2015 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |archive-date=25 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925134901/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/afganistans-dancing-boys-are-invisible-victims/2012/04/04/gIQAyreSwS_story.html?tid=pm_world_pop_b |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Attitudes towards other Muslim communities === Unlike other Islamic fundamentalist organizations, the Taliban are not [[Salafi movement|Salafists]]. Although wealthy Arab nations had brought Salafist [[Madrasa]]s to Afghanistan during the Soviet war in the 1980s, the Taliban's strict Deobandi leadership suppressed the Salafi movement in Afghanistan after it first came to power in the 1990s. Following the 2001 US invasion, the Taliban and Salafists joined forces to wage a common war against NATO forces. Still, Salafists were relegated to small groups which were under the Taliban's command.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Islamic State Khorasan Province's Peshawar Seminary Attack and War Against Afghan Taliban Hanafis |url=https://jamestown.org/program/islamic-state-khorasan-provinces-peshawar-seminary-attack-and-war-against-afghan-taliban-hanafis/ |access-date=26 August 2021 |website=Jamestown |archive-date=13 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513082004/https://jamestown.org/program/islamic-state-khorasan-provinces-peshawar-seminary-attack-and-war-against-afghan-taliban-hanafis/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Taliban are averse to debating doctrine with other Muslims and "did not allow even Muslim reporters to question [their] edicts or to discuss interpretations of the [[Qur'an]]."<ref name="rashid 107">{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|p=107}}.</ref>

==== Opposition to Salafism ==== Following the Taliban victory, a nationwide campaign was launched against influential Salafi factions suspected of past ties to the [[Islamic State – Khorasan Province|ISIS–K]]. The Taliban closed most Salafi mosques and seminaries in 16 provinces, including [[Nangarhar Province|Nangarhar]], and detained [[Clergy|clerics]] it accused of supporting the Islamic State.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Taliban Wages Deadly Crackdown On Afghan Salafists As War With IS-K Intensifies |work=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/taliban-crackdown-salafis-islamic-state-khorasan/31524687.html |access-date=5 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Taliban's religious roadmap for Afghanistan |url=https://www.mei.edu/publications/talibans-religious-roadmap-afghanistan |access-date=5 April 2023 |website=Middle East Institute |archive-date=26 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126024710/https://www.mei.edu/publications/talibans-religious-roadmap-afghanistan |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Shia Islam ==== During the period of the [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|first Taliban rule]] (1996 to 2001), the Taliban attempted to sway Shias, particularly [[Hazaras]], to their side, making deals with a number of Shia political figures, as well as securing the support of some Shia religious scholars.<ref name=":022">{{Cite web |last=Moiz |first=Ibrahim |date=14 June 2021 |title=Niazi No More: The Life and Legacy of a Taliban Mutineer |url=https://afghaneye.org/2021/06/14/niazi-no-more-the-life-and-legacy-of-a-taliban-mutineer/ |access-date=3 June 2023 |website=The Afghan Eye |quote=Contrary to some understandable, but inflated, claims ..., the Taliban had not intended to either wipe out Hazaras or Shias from the land; in fact they canvassed the support of several Hazara commanders, seniormost a former enemy called Muhammad Akbari, and even obtained the approval of some Shia clerics. |archive-date=28 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528204256/https://afghaneye.org/2021/06/14/niazi-no-more-the-life-and-legacy-of-a-taliban-mutineer/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> One of these was [[Ustad Muhammad Akbari]], a Shia Hazara politician who separated from Abdul-Ali Mazari's [[Hezbe Wahdat|Islamic Unity Party]] to form the [[National Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan|National Islamic Unity Party]], thereafter politically aligning himself and his group, which gained the support of the majority of Islamic Unity Party members in the [[Hazarajat|Hazara hinterland]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Christia |first=Fotini |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mrKsiFjP778C&pg=PA91 |title=Alliance Formation in Civil Wars |date=2012|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-107-02302-4 |pages=90–93|author-link=Fotini Christia |access-date=3 June 2023 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> with the Taliban.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ruttig |first=Thomas |date=1 January 2006 |title=Islamists, Leftists – and a Void in the Center. Afghanistan's Political Parties and where they come from (1902–2006) |url=https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/other-publications/external-publications/islamists-leftists-and-a-void-in-the-center-afghanistans-political-parties-and-where-they-come-from-1902-2006-2/ |access-date=3 June 2023 |website=Afghanistan Analysts Network |page=25 |quote=The largest of the Shia parties, Hezb-e Wahdat-e Islami, had already split into two during the Taleban era, when Ustad Muhammad Akbari struck an agreement with them and maintained control – under some Kandahari supervision – over parts of the Hazarajat, while Khalili's wing remained with the NA.}}</ref> Another significant Shia political figure in the administration of the first Islamic Emirate was Sayed Gardizi, a [[Seyyed Hazara]] from [[Gardez]], who was appointed as the ''wuluswal'' (district governor) of [[Yakawlang District]], being the only Shia to hold the position of district governor during the period of the first Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ibrahimi |first=Niamatullah |date=January 2009 |title=Divide and rule: State penetration in Hazarajat (Afghanistan) from the Monarchy to the Taliban |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08b75e5274a27b2000b61/WP42.2.pdf |journal=Crisis States Working Papers |publisher=[[Crisis States Research Centre]] |volume=2 |issue=42 |issn=1749-1800 |s2cid=222130576 |access-date=2 June 2023 |quote=The only Shiite official of the Taliban was Sayed Gardizi, a Shiite Sayed from Gardez in the southeast of the country. He was appointed as the district governor of Yakawlang. |archive-date=15 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221015144309/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08b75e5274a27b2000b61/WP42.2.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

At the same time, however, certain incidents caused distrust between the Taliban and Afghan Shias. The [[1998 Mazar-i-Sharif massacre]] was the most significant, having taken place in response to ethnic Uzbek warlord [[Abdul Rashid Dostum]]'s betrayal and subsequent massacre of Taliban fighters, as well as false rumors that Hazaras had beheaded senior Taliban leader Mawlawi Ihsanullah Ihsan at the grave of Abdul-Ali Mazari, which led to the massacre of a significant number of Hazaras.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hamid |first=Mustafa |author-link=Abu Walid al-Masri |date=3 June 2010 |title=إجابات مصطفى حامد عن ثلاث أسئلة من شيعة أفغانستان |trans-title=Mustafa Hamid's answers to three questions from the Shiites of Afghanistan |url=https://www.mafa.world/2010/06/03/%D8%AB%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AB-%D8%A5%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D8%AB%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AB-%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%A6%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%A5%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B7%D9%81%D9%89/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128193132/https://www.mafa.world/2010/06/03/%D8%AB%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AB-%D8%A5%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D8%AB%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AB-%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%A6%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%A5%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B7%D9%81%D9%89/ |archive-date=28 January 2023 |access-date=3 June 2023 |website=Māfā as-Sīyāsī |language=ar}}</ref> The commander responsible for the massacre, Abdul-Manan Niazi, later became notable for his opposition to the Taliban's leadership, having formed the rebellious [[High Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan]] in 2015, before being killed, reportedly by the Taliban themselves.<ref name=":12">{{Cite news |date=26 May 2021 |title=Assassination of Taliban splinter group leader exposes internal divisions |website=Salaam Times |url=https://afghanistan.asia-news.com/en_GB/articles/cnmi_st/features/2021/05/26/feature-02 |access-date=12 May 2022 |archive-date=3 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603194537/https://afghanistan.asia-news.com/en_GB/articles/cnmi_st/features/2021/05/26/feature-02 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":022" />

The desire of the Taliban leadership to expand the group's relations with Afghan Shias continued after the American invasion of Afghanistan and the group's return to insurgency. Some time following the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|American Invasion of Iraq]] in 2003, the Taliban published "A Message to the Mujahid People of Iraq and Afghanistan" by Mullah Omar, in which he condemned sectarianism whilst jointly addressing the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, saying:<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ash-Shāmī |first=Abū Maysarah |date=29 December 2014 |title=The Qā'idah of adh-Dhawāhirī, al-Harārī, and an-Nadhārī, and the Absent Yemeni Wisdom |url=https://media.clarionproject.org/files/islamic-state/isis-isil-islamic-state-magazine-issue-6-al-qaeda-of-waziristan.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=[[Dabiq (magazine)|Dabiq]] |issue=6 |pages=16–25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150108161122/https://media.clarionproject.org/files/islamic-state/isis-isil-islamic-state-magazine-issue-6-al-qaeda-of-waziristan.pdf |archive-date=8 January 2015 |access-date=3 June 2023 |via=[[Clarion Project]]}}</ref><blockquote>"It's incumbent upon all Muslims to thwart all the cursed plots of the cunning enemy, and to not give him the opportunity to light the fires of disagreement amongst the Muslims. A major component of American policy is to categorize the Muslims in Iraq with the labels of Shī'ah and Sunnī, and in Afghanistan with the labels of Pashtun, Tājīk, Hazārah and Uzbek, in order to decrease the severity and strength of the popular uprisings and the accompanying armed resistance. [...] As such, I request the brothers in Iraq to put behind them the differences that exist in the name of Shī'ah and Sunnī, and to fight in unity against the occupying enemy, for victory is not possible without unity."</blockquote>Multiple Hazara Shia Taliban commanders took part in the Taliban insurgency, primarily from Bamyan and [[Daykundi Province|Daikundi]] provinces. Among the [[Qara Baghi (Hazara tribe)|Qarabaghi tribe]] of Shia Hazaras, a number of fighters voluntarily joined the Taliban due to their close relations with the nearby Taliban-supporting Sunni Pashtun population. Additionally, a pro-government Shia Hazara militia from [[Gizab District|Gizab district]] of Daikundi province, called Fedayi, defected and pledged allegiance to the Taliban a few years before 2016, with a reported size of 50 fighters.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/1131093/90_1474353951_2019-09-easo-afghanistan-recruitment.pdf |title=COI Report: Afghanistan – Recruitment by armed groups |date=2016 |publisher=[[European Union Agency for Asylum|European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA)]] |isbn=978-92-9494-181-7 |pages=19–20 |chapter=Hazaras in the Taliban's ranks |doi=10.2847/044654 |quote=Some senior Hazara commanders are with the Taliban in Bamyan and Daikundi, and there are a couple of Taliban shadow governors or provincial-level military leaders who are Hazara. ... Qarabaghi, a cluster of villages near the provincial capital of Ghazni, inhabited by a community of Shia Hazaras ... are surrounded by a Sunni population and have very normalised and friendly relations with them, including even inter-marriages. In this particular context, these Hazara communities had active Taliban fighters. ... The Hazaras joined with the Sunni Pashtuns in collective security or governance initiatives which were sometimes directed by the Taliban. ... A few years ago, a Hazara pro-government militia commander in Gizab district (Daykundi) named Fedayi defected with a few dozen of his men to the Taliban. A video was released of him pledging allegiance to the Taliban. It was claimed that he had about 50 fighters but this remained unverified. |author1=European Asylum Support Office. |archive-date=2 February 2023 |access-date=3 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202044754/https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/1131093/90_1474353951_2019-09-easo-afghanistan-recruitment.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

In reaction to the [[2011 Afghanistan Ashura bombings]], which targeted Shia Afghans in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif, the Taliban published "Sectarian Killings; A Dangerous Enemy Conspiracy" by Taliban official [[Abdul Qahar Balkhi]], in which he stated:<ref>{{Cite web |last=Balkhi |first=Abdul-Qahhar |author-link=Abdul Qahar Balkhi |date=15 October 2016 |title=Sectarian Killings; A Dangerous Enemy Conspiracy |url=https://www.alemarahenglish.af/sectarian-killings-a-dangerous-enemy-conspiracy/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603063642/https://www.alemarahenglish.af/sectarian-killings-a-dangerous-enemy-conspiracy/ |archive-date=3 June 2023 |access-date=3 June 2023 |website=[[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan|The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan]]}}</ref> <blockquote>"In Afghanistan, Sunnis and Shias have co-existed for centuries. They live communal lives and participate in their mutual festivities. And for centuries they have fought shoulder to shoulder against foreign invaders. [...] The majority of Shia populations in Bamyan, Daikundi and Hazarajat [have] actively aided and continue to support the Mujahideen against the foreigners and their puppets. The foreign occupiers seek to ignite the flames of communal hatred and violence between Sunnis and Shias in Afghanistan. [...] The followers of Islam will only ever reclaim their rightful place in this world if they forgo their petty differences and unite as a single egalitarian body."</blockquote> In recent years, the Taliban have once again attempted to court Shiites, appointing a Shia cleric as a regional governor and recruiting Hazaras to fight against ISIS–K, in order to distance themselves from their past reputation and improve their relations with the Shia-led [[Government of Iran]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 May 2020 |title=Why Are the Taliban Wooing a Persecuted Afghanistan Minority Group? |url=https://thediplomat.com/2020/05/why-are-the-taliban-wooing-a-persecuted-afghanistan-minority-group/ |website=[[The Diplomat (magazine)|The Diplomat]] |access-date=30 May 2020 |archive-date=3 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210303125028/https://thediplomat.com/2020/05/why-are-the-taliban-wooing-a-persecuted-afghanistan-minority-group/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After the 2021 Taliban offensive, which led to the restoration of the Islamic Emirate, senior Taliban officials, including Deputy Prime Minister [[Abdul Salam Hanafi]] and Foreign Minister [[Amir Khan Muttaqi]], have stressed the importance of unity between Shiites and Sunnis in Afghanistan and promised to protect the Shiite community.<ref>{{cite news |date=17 October 2021 |title=Islamic Emirate Downplays Claims that Daesh is Emboldened |publisher=[[TOLOnews]] |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-175066 |archive-date=4 April 2023 |access-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404023544/https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-175066 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Afghanistan)|Ministry of Virtue and Vice]] have also agreed to hire Shia [[Ulama]] in order to implement the ministry's religious edicts.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ahmadi |first=Hussain |date=28 April 2022 |others=Translated by Ali Rezaei |title=The Agreement Between the Taliban and the Shia Ulema Council for "Interfering in People's Privacy" |url=https://nimrokhmedia.com/en/2022/07/28/the-agreement-between-the-taliban-and-the-shia-ulema-council-for-interfering-in-peoples-privacy/ |access-date=4 April 2023 |website=Nimrokh |archive-date=6 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706041940/http://nimrokhmedia.com/en/2022/07/28/the-agreement-between-the-taliban-and-the-shia-ulema-council-for-interfering-in-peoples-privacy/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In general, the Taliban has maintained peace with most Muslims in the Shiite community,<ref>{{Cite news |first1=Margherita |last1=Stancati |first2=Ehsanullah |last2=Amiri |date=2 September 2021 |title=Taliban Reach Out to Shiite Hazara Minority, Seeking Unity and Iran Ties |newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/taliban-reach-out-to-shiite-hazara-minority-seeking-unity-and-iran-ties-11630599286 |access-date=8 April 2023 |archive-date=29 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929234615/https://www.wsj.com/articles/taliban-reach-out-to-shiite-hazara-minority-seeking-unity-and-iran-ties-11630599286 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Qazizai |first=Fazelminallah |date=12 December 2022 |title=In Bamiyan, the Taliban Walk a Perilous Tightrope |url=https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/in-bamiyan-the-taliban-walk-a-perilous-tightrope/ |access-date=8 April 2023 |website=[[New Lines Magazine]] |archive-date=2 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602192243/https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/in-bamiyan-the-taliban-walk-a-perilous-tightrope/ |url-status=live }}</ref> although the 2022 [[Balkhab uprising]] resulted in the deaths of some Hazaras.<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 August 2022 |title=The fate of Mehdi Mujahid; where was the mistake? |url=https://www.avapress.com/en/note/257260/the-fate-of-mehdi-mujahid-_where-was-the-mistake |access-date=3 June 2023 |website=Afghan Voice Agency (AVA) |archive-date=18 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718085227/https://www.avapress.com/en/note/257260/the-fate-of-mehdi-mujahid-_where-was-the-mistake |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Consistency of the Taliban's ideology === The Taliban's ideology is not static. Before its capture of Kabul, members of the Taliban talked about stepping aside once a government of "good Muslims" took power and once law and order were restored. The decision-making process of the Taliban in Kandahar was modelled on the Pashtun tribal council (''[[jirga]]''), together with what was believed to be the early Islamic model. Discussion was followed by the building of a consensus by the believers.<ref name="Rashid 2000 95">{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|p=95}}.</ref>

As the Taliban's power grew, Mullah Omar made decisions without consulting the ''jirga'' or visiting other parts of the country. He visited the capital, Kabul, only twice while in power. Taliban spokesman Mullah Wakil explained:

{{blockquote|Decisions are based on the advice of the ''Amir-ul Momineen''. For us consultation is not necessary. We believe that this is in line with the ''Sharia''. We abide by the Amir's view even if he alone takes this view. There will not be a head of state. Instead there will be an Amir al-Mu'minin. Mullah Omar will be the highest authority and the government will not be able to implement any decision to which he does not agree. General elections are incompatible with ''Sharia'' and therefore we reject them.<ref name="ReferenceD">Interview with Taliban spokesman Mullah Wakil in Arabic magazine ''Al-Majallah'', 1996-10-23.</ref>}}

Another sign that the Taliban's ideology was evolving was Mullah Omar's 1999 decree in which he called for the protection of the Buddha statues at Bamyan and the destruction of them in 2001.<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 March 2001 |title=How the Buddha got his wounds |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/03/books.guardianreview2 |website=The Guardian |access-date=22 May 2021 |archive-date=18 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818213546/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/mar/03/books.guardianreview2 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Evaluations and criticisms === The author [[Ahmed Rashid]] suggests that the devastation and hardship which resulted from the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet invasion]] and the period which followed it influenced the Taliban's ideology.<ref name="rashid 32">{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|p=32}}.</ref> It is said that the Taliban did not include scholars who were learned in Islamic law and history. The refugee students brought up in a totally male society had no education in mathematics, science, history, or geography, no traditional skills of farming, herding, or handicraft-making, or even knowledge of their tribal and clan lineages.<ref name="rashid 32" /> In such an environment, war meant employment, peace meant unemployment. Dominating women affirmed manhood. For their leadership, rigid [[fundamentalism]] was a matter of principle and political survival. Taliban leaders "repeatedly told" Rashid that "if they gave women greater freedom or a chance to go to school, they would lose the support of their rank and file."<ref>{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|p=111}}.</ref> [[File:Taliban execute Zarmeena in Kabul in1999 RAWA.jpg|thumb|November 1999 [[public execution]] in Kabul of a mother of five who was found guilty of killing her husband with an axe while he slept<ref>{{Cite web |title="Taliban publicly execute woman", Associated Press, November 17, 1999 |url=http://www.rawa.org/murder-w.htm |access-date=2 September 2012 |publisher=Rawa.org |archive-date=10 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510012809/http://www.rawa.org/murder-w.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Antonowicz, Anton. 'Zarmina's story", ''Daily Mirror'', 20 June 2002</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Zarmeena |url=http://www.rawa.us/movies/zarmeena.mpg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061117051340/http://www.rawa.us/movies/zarmeena.mpg |archive-date=17 November 2006 |publisher=Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) |format=MPG}}</ref>]]

The Taliban have been criticized for their strictness towards those who disobeyed their imposed rules, and Mullah Omar has been criticized for titling himself [[Amir al-Mu'minin]].

Mullah Omar was criticized for calling himself Amir al-Mu'minin because he lacked scholarly learning, tribal pedigree, or connections to the [[Prophet Mohammed|Prophet]]'s family. The sanction for the title traditionally required the support of all of the country's [[ulema]], whereas only some 1,200 Pashtun Taliban-supporting Mullahs had declared that Omar was the Amir. According to Ahmed Rashid, "no Afghan had adopted the title since 1834, when King [[Dost Mohammed Khan]] assumed the title before he declared jihad against the [[Sikh]] kingdom in [[Peshawar]]. But Dost Mohammed was fighting foreigners, while Omar had declared jihad against other Afghans."<ref name="rashid 41-42" />

Another criticism was that the Taliban called their 20% tax on truckloads of opium "[[zakat]]," which is traditionally limited to 2.5% of the zakat payers' disposable income (or wealth).<ref name="rashid 41-42">{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|pp=41–42}}.</ref>

The Taliban have been compared to the 7th-century [[Kharijites]] who developed extreme doctrines that set them apart from both mainstream [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] and Shiʿa Muslims. The Kharijites were particularly noted for adopting a radical approach to ''[[takfir]]'', whereby they declared that other Muslims were [[Kafir|unbelievers]] and deemed them worthy of death.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Another battle with Islam's 'true believers' |work=The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/another-battle-with-islams-true-believers/article20802390/ |archive-date=19 January 2016 |access-date=3 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119055307/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/another-battle-with-islams-true-believers/article20802390/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=19 August 2013 |title=Balance of Challenging Islam in challenging extremism |url=http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/publications/free/the-balance-of-islam-in-challenging-extremism.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819100539/http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/publications/free/the-balance-of-islam-in-challenging-extremism.pdf |archive-date=19 August 2013 |access-date=21 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first=Mohamad |last=Jebara |title=Imam Mohamad Jebara: Fruits of the tree of extremism |url=https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/fruits-of-the-tree-of-extremism |website=Ottawa Citizen |access-date=27 January 2019 |archive-date=10 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510165202/https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/fruits-of-the-tree-of-extremism |url-status=live }}</ref>

In particular, the Taliban have been accused of ''takfir'' towards Shia. After the August 1998 slaughter of 8,000 mostly Shia Hazara non-combatants in Mazar-i-Sharif, Mullah [[Abdul Manan Niazi]], the Taliban commander of the attack and the new governor of Mazar, who the Taliban later killed after forming the rebellious High Council of the Islamic Emirate,<ref name=":12" /> declared from Mazar's central mosque: <blockquote>Last year you rebelled against us and killed us. From all your homes you shot at us. Now we are here to deal with you. The Hazaras are not Muslims and now have to kill Hazaras. You either accept to be Muslims or leave Afghanistan. Wherever you go we will catch you. If you go up we will pull you down by your feet; if you hide below, we will pull you up by your hair.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Massacre in Mazar-I Sharif|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports98/afghan/Afrepor0-03.htm#P186_38364|access-date=21 January 2018|publisher=Human Rights Watch|archive-date=15 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215095339/http://www.hrw.org/reports98/afghan/Afrepor0-03.htm#P186_38364|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>[[Carter Malkasian]], in one of the first comprehensive historical works on the Afghan war, argues that the Taliban are oversimplified in most portrayals. While Malkasian thinks that "oppressive" remains the best word to describe them, he points out that the Taliban managed to do what multiple governments and political players failed to: bring order and unity to the "ungovernable land". The Taliban curbed the atrocities and excesses of the Warlord period of the civil war from 1992{{En dash}}1996. Malkasian further argues that the Taliban's imposing of Islamic ideals upon the Afghan tribal system was innovative and a key reason for their success and durability. Given that traditional sources of authority had been shown to be weak during the long period of civil war, only religion had proved decisive in Afghanistan. In a period of 40 years of constant conflict, the traditionalist Islam of the Taliban proved to be far more stable, even if the order they brought was "an impoverished peace".<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last=Malkasian|first=Carter|title=The American war in Afghanistan: a history|date=2021|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-755077-9|location=New York|oclc=1240264784}}</ref>{{Rp|50–51}}

== Condemned practices == {{See also|Human rights in Afghanistan|Persecution of Hazara people#Afghanistan|War crimes in Afghanistan#Taliban}}The Taliban have been internationally condemned for their harsh enforcement of their interpretation of Islamic ''Sharia'' law, which has resulted in their brutal treatment of many Afghans. During their rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban enforced a strict interpretation of ''Sharia'', or Islamic law.{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|pages=37, 42–43}} The Taliban and their allies committed massacres against Afghan civilians, denied UN food supplies to 160,000 starving civilians, and conducted a policy of [[scorched earth]], burning vast areas of fertile land and destroying tens of thousands of homes. While the Taliban controlled Afghanistan, they banned activities and media including paintings, photography, and movies that depicted people or other living things. They also prohibited music with instrumental [[accompaniments]], with the exception of the [[daf]], a type of [[frame drum]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=Ethnomusicologist Discusses Taliban Vs. Musicians |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/British_Ethnomusicologist_Discusses_Talibans_Campaign_Against_Musicians/1753865.html |access-date=13 August 2021 |newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |date=23 June 2009 |archive-date=15 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815132209/https://www.rferl.org/a/British_Ethnomusicologist_Discusses_Talibans_Campaign_Against_Musicians/1753865.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Taliban prevented girls and young women from attending school, banned women from working jobs outside of healthcare (male doctors were prohibited from treating women), and required that women be accompanied by a male relative and wear a [[burqa]] at all times when in public. If women broke certain rules, they were publicly [[Flagellation|whipped]] or [[Public execution|executed]].<ref>{{Cite news |agency=Reuters Staff |date=1 September 2015 |title=Afghan man and woman given 100 lashes in public for adultery |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-adultery-idUSKCN0R13UE20150901 |access-date=13 August 2021 |archive-date=15 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815132232/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-adultery-idUSKCN0R13UE20150901 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Taliban harshly discriminated against religious and ethnic minorities during their rule and they have also committed a [[cultural genocide]] against the people of Afghanistan by destroying numerous monuments, including the famous 1500-year-old Buddhas of Bamiyan. According to the United Nations, the Taliban and their allies were responsible for 76% of Afghan [[Civilian casualties in the war in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|civilian casualties]] in 2010, and 80% in 2011 and 2012.<ref>ISAF has participating forces from 39 countries, including all 26 NATO members. See {{Citation |title=ISAF Troop Contribution Placement |date=5 December 2007 |url=http://www.nato.int/isaf/docu/epub/pdf/isaf_placemat.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091109012206/http://www.nato.int/isaf/docu/epub/pdf/isaf_placemat.pdf |publisher=NATO |archive-date=9 November 2009}}</ref> The group is internally funded by its involvement in the illegal drug trade which it participates in by producing and trafficking in [[narcotic]]s such as heroin,<ref name="FPdrug">{{Cite web |last=O'Donnell |first=Lynne |title=The Taliban Are Breaking Bad |date=19 July 2021 |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/19/taliban-expanding-drug-trade-meth-heroin/ |access-date=2 September 2021 |archive-date=8 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008114829/https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/19/taliban-expanding-drug-trade-meth-heroin/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Stateterrorismdrugs">{{Cite web |author=Bureau of Public Affairs, Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information |title=The Taliban, Terrorism, and Drug Trade |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/inl/rls/rm/sep_oct/5210.htm |website=2001-2009.state.gov |access-date=2 September 2021 |archive-date=2 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902115629/https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/inl/rls/rm/sep_oct/5210.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> extortion, and kidnapping for ransom.<ref name="VOAmoney">{{Cite web |title=Where Are the Taliban Getting Their Money? |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/us-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal_where-are-taliban-getting-their-money/6209559.html |website=Voice of America |date=13 August 2021 |access-date=8 April 2025 |archive-date=2 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102230135/https://www.voanews.com/a/us-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal_where-are-taliban-getting-their-money/6209559.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Sufizada" /> They also seized control of mining operations in the mid-2010s that were illegal under the previous government.<ref name="BBCmoney">{{Cite news |date=27 August 2021 |title=Afghanistan: How do the Taliban make money? |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-46554097 |archive-date=31 August 2021 |access-date=2 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831024705/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-46554097 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Massacre campaigns === According to a 55-page report by the United Nations, the Taliban, while trying to consolidate control over northern and western Afghanistan, committed systematic [[massacre]]s against civilians. UN officials stated that there had been "15 massacres" between 1996 and 2001. They also said, that "[t]hese have been highly systematic and they all lead back to the [Taliban] Ministry of Defense or to Mullah Omar himself." "These are the same type of war crimes as were committed in Bosnia and should be prosecuted in international courts", one UN official was quoted as saying. The documents also reveal the role of Arab and Pakistani support troops in these killings. Bin Laden's so-called [[055 Brigade]] was responsible for mass-killings of Afghan civilians. The report by the United Nations quotes "eyewitnesses in many villages describing Arab fighters carrying long knives used for slitting throats and skinning people". The Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, in late 2011 stated that cruel behaviour under and by the Taliban had been "necessary".<ref name="Newsday 2001">{{Cite news |last=Gargan |first=Edward A |date=October 2001 |title=Taliban massacres outlined for UN |work=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2001/10/12/taliban-massacres-outlined-for-un/ |archive-date=16 September 2011 |access-date=11 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916074935/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2001-10-12/news/0110120312_1_taliban-fighters-massacres-in-recent-years-mullah-mohammed-omar |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="papillonsartpalace.com">{{Cite web |year=2001 |title=Confidential UN report details mass killings of civilian villagers |url=http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/massacre.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021118162327/http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/massacre.htm |archive-date=18 November 2002 |access-date=12 October 2001 |website=Newsday |publisher=newsday.org}}</ref><ref name="Ahmed Rashid/The Telegraph">{{Cite news |date=11 September 2001 |title=Afghanistan resistance leader feared dead in blast |publisher=Ahmed Rashid in the Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1340244/Afghanistan-resistance-leader-feared-dead-in-blast.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1340244/Afghanistan-resistance-leader-feared-dead-in-blast.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=31 December 2011 |title=Taliban spokesman: Cruel behavior was necessary |url=http://www.tolonews.com/en/purso-pal/4847-cruel-behaviour-was-necessary-during-taliban-rule-zaeef-says |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423154739/http://www.tolonews.com/en/purso-pal/4847-cruel-behaviour-was-necessary-during-taliban-rule-zaeef-says |archive-date=23 April 2012 |access-date=1 September 2012 |publisher=Tolonews.com}}</ref>

In 1998, the United Nations accused the Taliban of denying emergency food by the UN's [[World Food Programme]] to 160,000 hungry and starving people "for political and military reasons".<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 January 1998 |title=Associated Press: U.N. says Taliban starving hungry people for military agenda |publisher=Nl.newsbank.com |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=APAB&d_place=APAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F8B4F98500EA0F8&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |access-date=1 September 2012 |archive-date=13 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913121938/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=APAB&d_place=APAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F8B4F98500EA0F8&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |url-status=live }}</ref> The UN said the Taliban were starving people for their military agenda and using humanitarian assistance as a weapon of war.<ref name="Skaine">{{Cite book |last=Skaine |first=Rosemarie |title=Women of Afghanistan in the Post-Taliban Era: How Lives Have Changed and Where They Stand Today |publisher=McFarland |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7864-3792-4 |page=41}}</ref><ref name="Shanty1">{{Cite book |last=Shanty |first=Frank |title=The Nexus: International Terrorism and Drug Trafficking from Afghanistan |publisher=Praeger |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-313-38521-6 |pages=86–88}}</ref><ref name="UNAMA">{{Cite news |date=9 March 2011 |title=Citing rising death toll, UN urges better protection of Afghan civilians |work=United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan |url=http://unama.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1783&ctl=Details&mid=1882&ItemID=12602 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726085402/http://unama.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1783&ctl=Details&mid=1882&ItemID=12602 |archive-date=26 July 2011}}</ref><ref name="Haddon">{{Cite news |last=Haddon |first=Katherine |date=6 October 2011 |title=Afghanistan marks 10 years since war started |agency=Agence France-Presse |url=https://news.yahoo.com/afghanistan-marks-10-years-since-war-started-211711851.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111010055026/http://news.yahoo.com/afghanistan-marks-10-years-since-war-started-211711851.html |archive-date=10 October 2011}}</ref><ref name="The Weekly Standard">{{Cite news |date=10 August 2010 |title=UN: Taliban Responsible for 76% of Deaths in Afghanistan |work=The Weekly Standard |url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/taliban-responsible-76-deaths-afghanistan-un |url-status=dead |access-date=30 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102054938/http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/taliban-responsible-76-deaths-afghanistan-un |archive-date=2 January 2011}}</ref>

On 8 August 1998, the Taliban launched an attack on Mazar-i-Sharif. Of 1500 defenders only 100 survived the engagement. Once in control the Taliban began to kill people indiscriminately. At first shooting people in the street, they soon began to target Hazaras. Women were raped, and thousands of people were locked in containers and left to suffocate. This [[ethnic cleansing]] left an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 people dead. At this time [[1998 killing of Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan|ten Iranian diplomats]] and a journalist were killed. Iran assumed the Taliban had murdered them, and mobilised its army, deploying men along the border with Afghanistan. By the middle of September there were 250,000 Iranian personnel stationed on the border. Pakistan mediated and the bodies were returned to Tehran towards the end of the month. The killings of the diplomats had been carried out by [[Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan]], a Pakistani Sunni group with close ties to the ISI. They burned orchards, crops and destroyed irrigation systems, and forced more than 100,000 people from their homes with hundreds of men, women and children still unaccounted for.<ref name="Armajani-207">{{Cite book |last=Armajani |first=Jon |title=Modern Islamist Movements: History, Religion, and Politics |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4051-1742-5 |page=207}}</ref><ref name="Riedel-66-7">{{Cite book |last=Riedel |first=Bruce |title=The Search for Al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology, and Future |publisher=Brookings Institution |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8157-0451-5 |edition=2nd Revised |pages=66–67}}</ref><ref name="Clements3">{{Cite book |last=Clements |first=Frank |title=Conflict in Afghanistan: a historical encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85109-402-8 |page=106}}</ref><ref name="Gutman">{{Cite book |last=Gutman |first=Roy |url=https://archive.org/details/howwemissedstory00gutm/page/142 |title=How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban, and the Hijacking of Afghanistan |publisher=Institute of Peace Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-60127-024-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/howwemissedstory00gutm/page/142 142]}}</ref><ref name="Tripathi">{{Cite book |last=Tripathi |first=Deepak |title=Breeding Ground: Afghanistan and the Origins of Islamist Terrorism |publisher=Potomac |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-59797-530-8 |page=116}}</ref>

In a major effort to retake the [[Shomali Plains]] to the north of Kabul from the United Front, the Taliban indiscriminately killed civilians, while uprooting and expelling the population. Among others, Kamal Hossein, a special reporter for the UN, reported on these and other [[war crime]]s. In [[Istalif]], a town famous for handmade potteries and which was home to more than 45,000 people, the Taliban gave 24 hours' notice to the population to leave, then completely razed the town leaving the people destitute.<ref name="NPR">{{Cite news |date=1 August 2002 |title=Re-Creating Afghanistan: Returning to Istalif |publisher=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/aug/afghanistan/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023072254/http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/aug/afghanistan/ |archive-date=23 October 2013}}</ref><ref name="Coburn">{{Cite book |last=Coburn |first=Noah |title=Bazaar Politics: Power and Pottery in an Afghan Market Town |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-8047-7672-1 |page=13}}</ref>

In 1999, the town of [[Bamian]] was taken, hundreds of men, women and children were executed. Houses were razed and some were used for forced labour. There was a further massacre at the town of [[Yakaolang]] in January 2001. An estimated 300 people were murdered, along with two delegations of Hazara elders who had tried to intercede.<ref name="Maley2-240">{{Cite book |last=Maley |first=William |title=The Afghanistan wars |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-333-80290-8 |page=240}}</ref><ref name="Clements4">{{Cite book |last=Clements |first=Frank |title=Conflict in Afghanistan: a historical encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85109-402-8 |page=112}}</ref>

By 1999, the Taliban had forced hundreds of thousands of people from the Shomali Plains and other regions conducting a policy of scorched earth burning homes, farm land and gardens.<ref name="NPR" />

=== Human trafficking === Several Taliban and al-Qaeda commanders ran a network of human trafficking, abducting ethnic minority women and selling them into [[sex slavery]] in Afghanistan and Pakistan.<ref name="Time Magazine">{{Cite magazine |date=10 February 2002 |title=Lifting The Veil On Taliban Sex Slavery |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,201892,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110602140825/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,201892,00.html |archive-date=2 June 2011 |access-date=16 July 2021}}</ref> ''Time'' magazine writes: "The Taliban often argued that the restrictions they placed on women were actually a way of revering and protecting the opposite sex. The behavior of the Taliban during the six years they expanded their rule in Afghanistan made a mockery of that claim."<ref name="Time Magazine" />

The targets for human trafficking were especially women from the [[Tajiks|Tajik]], [[Uzbeks|Uzbek]], Hazara and other non-Pashtun ethnic groups in Afghanistan. Some women preferred to commit suicide over slavery, killing themselves. During one Taliban and al-Qaeda offensive in 1999 in the Shomali Plains alone, more than 600 women were kidnapped.<ref name="Time Magazine" /> Arab and Pakistani al-Qaeda militants, with local Taliban forces, forced them into trucks and buses.<ref name="Time Magazine" /> ''Time'' magazine writes: "The trail of the missing Shomali women leads to Jalalabad, not far from the Pakistan border. There, according to eyewitnesses, the women were penned up inside Sar Shahi camp in the desert. The more desirable among them were selected and taken away. Some were trucked to Peshawar with the apparent complicity of Pakistani border guards. Others were taken to Khost, where bin Laden had several training camps." Officials from relief agencies say, the trail of many of the vanished women leads to Pakistan where they were sold to brothels or into private households to be kept as slaves.<ref name="Time Magazine" />

=== Oppression of women === {{Main|Treatment of women by the Taliban}}

{{further|Women in Afghanistan}} [[File:Taliban beating woman in public RAWA.jpg|right|thumb|Taliban [[Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Afghanistan)|religious police]] beating a woman in [[Kabul]] on 26 August 2001<ref>{{Cite web |title=Movies |url=http://www.rawa.us/movies/beating.mpg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325014821/http://www.rawa.us/movies/beating.mpg |archive-date=25 March 2009 |publisher=Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) |format=MPG}}</ref>]]

{{blockquote|To PHR's knowledge, no other régime in the world has methodically and violently forced half of its population into virtual [[house arrest]], prohibiting them on pain of physical punishment.<ref name="physicians">{{Cite web |title=The Taliban's War on Women |url=http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/documents/reports/talibans-war-on-women.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070702234326/http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/documents/reports/talibans-war-on-women.pdf |archive-date=2007-07-02 |access-date=2007-03-04}}, Physicians for Human Rights, August 1998.</ref>|Physicians for Human Rights|1998}}

[[File:RAWA protest rally against Taliban in Peshawar April28-1998.jpg|thumb|Members of the [[Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan]] protesting against the Taliban, in [[Peshawar]], Pakistan in 1998]] [[Taliban treatment of women|Brutal repression of women]] was widespread under the Taliban and it received significant international condemnation.<ref name="Forsythe3">{{Cite book |last=Forsythe |first=David P. |title=Encyclopedia of human rights |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-533402-9 |edition=Volume 1 |page=2 |quote=In 1994 the Taliban was created, funded and inspired by Pakistan}}</ref><ref name="Maley3">Dupree Hatch, Nancy. "Afghan Women under the Taliban" in Maley, William. ''Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban''. London: Hurst and Company, 2001, pp. 145–166.</ref><ref name="Wertheime">{{Cite book |last=Wertheime |first=Molly Meijer |title=Leading Ladies of the White House: Communication Strategies of Notable Twentieth-Century First Ladies |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7425-3672-2 |page=253}}</ref><ref name="Cooke">{{Cite book |last=Cooke |first=Miriam |url=https://archive.org/details/terrorculturepol0000unse/page/177 |title=Terror, Culture, Politics: 9/11 Reconsidere |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-253-34672-8 |editor-last=Sherman |editor-first=Daniel J. |page=[https://archive.org/details/terrorculturepol0000unse/page/177 177]}}</ref><ref name="Moghadam">{{Cite book |last=Moghadam |first=Valentine M. |url=https://archive.org/details/modernizingwomen0000mogh_x1r1/page/266 |title=Modernizing women: gender and social change in the Middle East |publisher=Lynne Rienner |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-58826-171-7 |edition=2nd Revised |page=[https://archive.org/details/modernizingwomen0000mogh_x1r1/page/266 266]}}</ref><ref name="Massoumi">{{Cite book |last=Massoumi |first=Mejgan |title=The fundamentalist city?: religiosity and the remaking of urban space |publisher=Routledge |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-415-77935-7 |editor-last=AlSayyad |editor-first=Nezar |page=223}}</ref><ref name="Skaine1">{{Cite book |last=Skaine |first=Rosemarie |title=Women of Afghanistan in the Post-Taliban Era: How Lives Have Changed and Where They Stand Today |publisher=McFarland |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7864-3792-4 |page=57}}</ref><ref>Rashid, Ahmed. ''Taliban''. Yale Nota Bene Books, 2000, pp. 70, 106 {{ISBN?}}.</ref><ref name="Skain">{{Cite book |last=Skain |first=Rosemarie |title=The women of Afghanistan under the Taliban |publisher=McFarland |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7864-1090-3 |page=41}}</ref><ref>* {{cite news |last1=Gerstenzan |first1=James |last2=Getter |first2=Lisa |date=18 November 2001 |title=Laura Bush Addresses State of Afghan Women |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-nov-18-mn-5602-story.html |access-date=14 September 2012 |archive-date=10 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010184219/http://articles.latimes.com/2001/nov/18/news/mn-5602 |url-status=live }} * {{Cite web |date=11 September 2007 |title=Women's Rights in the Taliban and Post-Taliban Eras |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/uncategorized/a-woman-among-warlords-womens-rights-in-the-taliban-and-post-taliban-eras/66/ |access-date=14 September 2012 |website=A Woman Among Warlords |publisher=[[PBS]] |archive-date=14 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114011223/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/a-woman-among-warlords/womens-rights-in-the-taliban-and-post-taliban-eras/66/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Abuses were myriad and violently enforced by the [[Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Afghanistan)|religious police]].<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Graham-Harrison |first1=Emma |last2=Makoii |first2=Akhtar Mohammad |date=9 February 2019 |title='The Taliban took years of my life': the Afghan women living in the shadow of war |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/09/the-taliban-took-years-of-my-life-the-afghan-women-living-in-the-shadow-of-war |url-status=live |access-date=16 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301200918/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/09/the-taliban-took-years-of-my-life-the-afghan-women-living-in-the-shadow-of-war |archive-date=1 March 2020}}</ref> For example, the Taliban issued edicts forbidding women from being educated, forcing girls to leave schools and colleges.<ref name="Women-Amnesty">{{Cite web |date=25 November 2014 |title=Women in Afghanistan: the back story |url=https://www.amnesty.org.uk/womens-rights-afghanistan-history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614193030/https://www.amnesty.org.uk/womens-rights-afghanistan-history |archive-date=14 June 2020 |access-date=16 July 2020 |publisher=Amnesty International}}</ref><ref name="women-StateDepartment">{{Cite web |date=17 November 2001 |title=Report on the Taliban's War Against Women |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/6185.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711010830/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/6185.htm |archive-date=11 July 2020 |access-date=16 July 2020 |website=U.S. Department of State |publisher=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor}}</ref><ref name="Rashid2">{{Cite book |last=Rashid |first=Ahmed |title=Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-86064-830-4 |page=253}}</ref><ref name="Newsday 2001" /><ref name="papillonsartpalace.com" /><ref>{{cite news |title=U.N. says Taliban starving hungry people for military agenda |date=8 January 1998 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-leaf-chronicle-un-says-taliban-starv/145594960/ |work=The Leaf-Chronicle |page=A9 |agency=Associated Press |archive-date=18 April 2024 |access-date=18 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418152622/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-leaf-chronicle-un-says-taliban-starv/145594960/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Goodson |first=Larry P. |url=https://archive.org/details/afghanistansendl00good |title=Afghanistan's Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics and the Rise of the Taliban |publisher=University of Washington Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-295-98111-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/afghanistansendl00good/page/121 121] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="NPR" /> Women who were leaving their houses were required to be accompanied by a male relative and were obligated to wear the ''[[burqa]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 August 2021 |title=Afghan women forced from banking jobs as Taliban take control |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/afghan-women-bankers-forced-roles-taliban-takes-control-2021-08-13/ |access-date=13 August 2021 |work=Reuters |archive-date=16 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816220418/https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/afghan-women-bankers-forced-roles-taliban-takes-control-2021-08-13/ |url-status=live }}</ref> a traditional dress covering the entire body except for a small slit out of which to see.<ref name="Women-Amnesty" /><ref name="women-StateDepartment" /> Those women who were accused of disobedience were publicly beaten. In one instance, a young woman named Sohaila was charged with adultery after she was caught walking with a man who was not a relative; she was publicly flogged in [[Ghazi Stadium]], receiving 100 lashes.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 February 1998 |title=Woman flogged for adultery |newspaper=The Irish Times |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/woman-flogged-for-adultery-1.137410 |url-status=live |access-date=16 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716223951/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/woman-flogged-for-adultery-1.137410 |archive-date=16 July 2020}}</ref> Female employment was restricted to the medical sector, where male medical personnel were prohibited from treating women and girls.<ref name="Women-Amnesty" /><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Feroz |first1=Emran |last2=Lakanwal |first2=Abdul Rahman |date=4 May 2020 |title=In Rural Afghanistan, Some Taliban Gingerly Welcome Girls Schools |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/04/afghanistan-taliban-girls-schools/ |access-date=13 August 2021 |website=Foreign Policy |archive-date=16 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816104122/https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/04/afghanistan-taliban-girls-schools/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=11 September 2007 |title=A Woman Among Warlords ~ Women's Rights in the Taliban and Post-Taliban Eras |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/uncategorized/a-woman-among-warlords-womens-rights-in-the-taliban-and-post-taliban-eras/66/ |access-date=13 August 2021 |website=Wide Angle |archive-date=14 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114011223/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/a-woman-among-warlords/womens-rights-in-the-taliban-and-post-taliban-eras/66/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This extensive ban on the employment of women further resulted in the widespread closure of primary schools, as almost all teachers prior to the Taliban's rise had been women, further restricting access to education not only to girls but also to boys. Restrictions became especially severe after the Taliban took control of the capital. In February 1998, for instance, religious police forced all women off the streets of Kabul and issued new regulations which ordered people to blacken their windows so that women would not be visible from outside.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Lacayo |first=Richard |date=25 November 2001 |title=About Face for Afghan Women |magazine=Time |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,185651,00.html |url-status=live |access-date=16 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222090147/http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,185651,00.html |archive-date=22 December 2019}}</ref>

====Ban on women's participation in the healthcare sector==== In December 2024, the Taliban's health ministry banned women from being trained in [[nursing]] and [[midwifery]], according to media reports confirmed by ''The Guardian''.<ref name="Guardian midwife ban">{{cite web|last1=Kumar|first1=Ruchi|last2=Joya|first2=Zahra|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/dec/06/taliban-afghanistan-ban-women-training-nurses-midwives-outrageous-act-ignorance-human-rights-healthcare|title=Taliban move to ban women training as nurses and midwives 'an outrageous act of ignorance'|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=6 December 2024|accessdate=8 December 2024}}</ref> This was a reversal of an earlier February 2024 decision to permit basic medical training for women.<ref name="NPR midwife ban">{{cite web|last=Kumar|first=Ruchi|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2024/12/04/g-s1-36765/afghanistan-taliban-women-nurses-midwives|title=Rights Group: Afghan women barred from studying nursing and midwifery|work=[[NPR]]|date=4 December 2024|accessdate=8 December 2024|archive-date=7 December 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241207035410/https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2024/12/04/g-s1-36765/afghanistan-taliban-women-nurses-midwives|url-status=live}}</ref> According to ''[[NPR]]'', the health ministry had lobbied for an exemption from the general ban on women's education in the healthcare sector because "in some provinces, the Taliban does not allow women to seek treatment from male medical professionals."<ref name="NPR midwife ban"/> The Taliban's ban on basic medical training for women was widely condemned by human rights organizations as a danger to the health and well-being of Afghan women and children, with Afghanistan already having among the [[List of countries by maternal mortality ratio|highest maternal mortality ratios in the world]] according to 2020 data, before the Taliban's 2021 seizure of power.<ref name="Guardian midwife ban"/><ref name="NPR midwife ban"/> For example, Heather Barr of Human Right Watch stated: "If you ban women from being treated by male healthcare professionals, and then you ban women from training to become healthcare professionals, the consequences are clear: women will not have access to healthcare and will die as a result."<ref name="Guardian midwife ban"/> The [[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]] (OHCHR) stated that the ban "is profoundly discriminatory, short-sighted and puts the lives of women and girls at risk in multiple ways."<ref>{{cite web|last=Mishra|first=Vibhu|url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/12/1157866|title=Afghanistan: UN condemns Taliban ban on women attending medical classes|publisher=[[United Nations]]|date=5 December 2024|accessdate=8 December 2024|archive-date=7 December 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241207020203/https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/12/1157866|url-status=live}}</ref>

====ICC case==== {{main|International Criminal Court investigation in Afghanistan}}

In July 2025, the [[International Criminal Court]] issued [[International Criminal Court investigation in Afghanistan#Arrest warrants|arrest warrants for Taliban leaders]] over their alleged persecution of women in Afghanistan.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over persecution of women and girls |url=https://apnews.com/article/icc-tribunal-arrests-taliban-women-36e471179d6059ab1c9ae6699e5082c0 |access-date=8 July 2025 |date=8 July 2025 |publisher=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref>

=== Violence against civilians === According to the United Nations, the Taliban and its allies were responsible for 76% of civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2009, 75% in 2010 and 80% in 2011.<ref name="UNAMA" /><ref name="Kegley">{{Cite book |last1=Kegley |first1=Charles W. |title=World Politics: Trend and Transformation |first2=Shannon L. |last2=Blanton |publisher=Cengage |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-495-90655-1 |page=230}}</ref>

According to Human Rights Watch, the Taliban's bombings and other attacks which have led to civilian casualties "sharply escalated in 2006" when "at least 669 Afghan civilians were killed in at least 350 armed attacks, most of which appear to have been intentionally launched at non-combatants."<ref name="hrw-cbceia">{{Cite web |date=17 April 2007 |title=Human Rights News, Afghanistan: Civilians Bear Cost of Escalating Insurgent Attacks |url=http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/04/16/afghan15688.htm |access-date=2 September 2012 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |archive-date=16 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616151336/http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2007/04/16/afghan15688.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=16 April 2007 |title=The Consequences of Insurgent Attacks in Afghanistan, April 2007, Volume 19, No. 6(C) |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/afghanistan0407/ |access-date=2 September 2012 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |archive-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305083358/https://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/afghanistan0407/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Demonstration gegen den Taliban-Krieg in Afghanistan (51380125214).jpg|thumb|Afghans in Germany protesting against Taliban violence, 14 August 2021]] The United Nations reported that the number of civilians killed by both the Taliban and pro-government forces in the war rose nearly 50% between 2007 and 2009. The high number of civilians killed by the Taliban is blamed in part on their increasing use of [[improvised explosive device]]s (IEDs), "for instance, 16 IEDs have been planted in girls' schools" by the Taliban.<ref name="Arnoldy">{{Cite journal |last=Arnoldy |first=Ben |date=31 July 2009 |title=In Afghanistan, Taliban kills more civilians than US |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0731/p06s15-wosc.html |journal=The Christian Science Monitor |archive-date=3 August 2009 |access-date=31 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090803190403/http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0731/p06s15-wosc.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2009, Colonel [[Richard Kemp]], formerly Commander of British forces in Afghanistan and the intelligence coordinator for the British government, drew parallels between the tactics and strategy of [[Hamas]] in [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]] to those of the Taliban. Kemp wrote:

{{blockquote|Like Hamas in Gaza, the Taliban in southern Afghanistan are masters at shielding themselves behind the civilian population and then melting in among them for protection. Women and children are trained and equipped 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. Snipers shelter in houses deliberately filled with women and children.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The UN Goldstone Commission: A Lesson in Farcical Hypocrisy, Defense Update. By David Eshel |url=http://defense-update.com/analysis/analysis_280909_goldstone_kemp.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130223032851/http://defense-update.com/analysis/analysis_280909_goldstone_kemp.html |archive-date=2013-02-23 |access-date=2012-09-02 |publisher=Defense-update.com}}</ref><ref name="kemp2">[http://www.securityaffairs.org/issues/2010/18/kemp.php Israel and the New Way of War] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226163948/https://www.securityaffairs.org/issues/2010/18/kemp.php |date=26 December 2010 }}, ''The Journal of International Security Affairs'', Spring 2010 – Number 18</ref>|Richard Kemp|Commander of British forces in Afghanistan}}

=== Discrimination against Hindus and Sikhs === [[Hinduism in Afghanistan|Hindus]] and [[Sikhism in Afghanistan|Sikhs]] have lived in Afghanistan since [[History of Afghanistan|historic times]] and they were prominent minorities in Afghanistan, well-established in terms of academics and businesses.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weekes |first=Richard V. |url=http://archive.org/details/muslimpeopleswor00week |title=Muslim peoples : a world ethnographic survey |date=1984 |publisher=Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press |others=[[Internet Archive]] |isbn=978-0-313-23392-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/muslimpeopleswor00week/page/601 601]}}</ref> After the Afghan Civil War they started to migrate to India and other nations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Communism, Rebellion, and Soviet Intervention |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+af0028) |access-date=8 May 2021 |website=lcweb2.loc.gov |archive-date=15 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815113338/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+af0028) |url-status=live }}</ref> After the Taliban established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, they imposed strict ''Sharia'' laws which discriminated against Hindus and Sikhs and caused the size of Afghanistan's Hindu and Sikh populations to fall at a very rapid rate because they emigrated from Afghanistan and established [[diaspora]]s in the Western world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kabir |first=Nahid A. |year=2005 |title=The Economic Plight of the Afghans in Australia, 1860–2000 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20838963 |journal=Islamic Studies |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=229–250 |doi=10.52541/isiri.v44i2.4699 |issn=0578-8072 |jstor=20838963 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=15 August 2021 |access-date=8 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815132208/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20838963 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Taliban issued decrees that forbade non-Muslims from building places of worship but allowed them to worship at existing holy sites, forbade non-Muslims from criticizing Muslims, ordered non-Muslims to identify their houses by placing a yellow cloth on their rooftops, forbade non-Muslims from living in the same residence as Muslims, and required that non-Muslim women wear a yellow dress with a special mark so that Muslims could keep their distance from them (Hindus and Sikhs were mainly targeted).{{Sfn|Rashid|2000|pp=231–234}} The Taliban announced in May 2001 that it would force Afghanistan's Hindu population to wear special badges, which has been compared to the [[Yellow badge|treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany]].<ref name="wired.com">[[Associated Press]] (22 May 2001). [https://www.wired.com/2001/05/taliban-to-enforce-hindu-badges/ "Taliban to Enforce Hindu 'Badges.'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304065022/https://www.wired.com/2001/05/taliban-to-enforce-hindu-badges/ |date=4 March 2021 }} ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]''. Retrieved 22 July 2020.</ref> In general, the Taliban treated the Sikhs better than Afghan Shiites, Hindus and Christians.<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 April 2001 |title=Sikhs set example for getting along with the Taliban |work=The Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0413/p7s1.html |access-date=11 May 2021 |issn=0882-7729 |archive-date=16 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816193754/https://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0413/p7s1.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Relationship with other religious groups === {{further|Attacks on humanitarian workers|Christianity in Afghanistan}} Along with Hindus, the small [[Christianity in Afghanistan|Christian community]] was also persecuted by the Taliban.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gebauer |first=Matthias |title=Christians in Afghanistan: A Community of Faith and Fear |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/christians-in-afghanistan-a-community-of-faith-and-fear-a-408781.html |access-date=11 May 2021 |website=Der Spiegel |date=30 March 2006 |archive-date=7 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807210158/https://www.spiegel.de/international/christians-in-afghanistan-a-community-of-faith-and-fear-a-408781.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Violence against Western aid workers and Christians was common during the Afghan conflict.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ten killed in Afghanistan worked for Christian group |url=https://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/07/ten-killed-in-afghanistan-worked-for-christian-group/ |access-date=5 April 2023 |website=CNN |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405100006/https://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/07/ten-killed-in-afghanistan-worked-for-christian-group/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On several occasions between 2008 and 2012, the Taliban claimed that they assassinated Western and Afghani medical or aid workers in Afghanistan, because they [[Vaccine misinformation|feared that the polio vaccine would make Muslim children sterile]], because they suspected that the 'medical workers' were really spies, or because they suspected that the medical workers were [[Proselytism|proselytizing]] Christianity.

In August 2008, three Western women (British, Canadian, US) working for the [[Humanitarian aid|aid group]] [[International Rescue Committee]] were murdered in Kabul. The Taliban claimed that they killed them because they were foreign spies.<ref name="BBC, Oct008">{{Cite news |date=20 October 2008 |title=UK charity worker killed in Kabul |work=BBC News |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7679212.stm |access-date=7 October 2017 |archive-date=9 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609115948/https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7679212.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> In October 2008, the British woman [[Gayle Williams]] working for Christian UK charity [[SERVE Afghanistan]] – focusing on training and education for disabled persons – was murdered near Kabul. The Taliban claimed they killed her because her organisation "was preaching Christianity in Afghanistan".<ref name="BBC, Oct008" /> At least 29 aid workers, five of whom were foreign, were killed in Afghanistan in 2008.<ref name="BBC, Oct008" />

In August 2010, the Taliban claimed to have killed 10 medical aid workers while they were passing through [[Badakhshan Province]] on their way from Kabul to [[Nuristan Province]] – but the Afghan Islamic party/militia [[Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin]] has also claimed responsibility for those killings. The victims were six Americans, one Briton, one German and two Afghanis, working for a self-proclaimed "non-profit, Christian organization" which is named 'International Assistance Mission'. The Taliban stated that they killed them because they were proselytizing Christianity and possessing Bibles which were translated into the Dari language when they were encountered. IAM contended that they "were not missionaries".<ref>[https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/08/hizbiislam_taliban_b.php 'Hizb-i-Islami, Taliban both claim killing 10 medical workers in northern Afghanistan'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817012557/https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/08/hizbiislam_taliban_b.php |date=17 August 2021 }}. FDD's Long War Journal, 7 August 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2017.</ref>

In December 2012, unidentified gunmen killed four female UN polio-workers in [[Karachi]] in Pakistan; the Western news media suggested that there was a connection between the outspokenness of the Taliban and objections to and suspicions of such '[[Polio vaccine|polio vaccinations]]'.<ref>[https://news.yahoo.com/gunmen-kill-4-female-polio-workers-pakistan-091459457.html "Gunmen kill 4 female polio workers in Pakistan"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203034630/https://news.yahoo.com/gunmen-kill-4-female-polio-workers-pakistan-091459457.html |date=3 February 2021 }} (18 December 2012), Yahoo! News, The Associated Press. Retrieved 10 September 2013.</ref> Eventually in 2012, a Pakistani Taliban commander in [[North Waziristan]] in Pakistan banned polio vaccinations,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Walsh |first=D. |date=18 June 2012 |title=Taliban Block Vaccinations in Pakistan |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/world/asia/taliban-block-vaccinations-in-pakistan.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120619231746/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/world/asia/taliban-block-vaccinations-in-pakistan.html |archive-date=19 June 2012 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=27 May 2013}}</ref> and in March 2013, the Afghan government was forced to suspend its vaccination efforts in [[Nuristan Province]] because the Taliban was extremely influential in the province.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Graham-Harrison |first=E. |date=12 March 2013 |title=Taliban stopping polio vaccinations, says Afghan governor |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/12/taliban-stopping-polio-vaccinations-afghanistan |access-date=27 May 2013 |archive-date=19 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819071512/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/12/taliban-stopping-polio-vaccinations-afghanistan |url-status=live }}</ref> However, in May 2013, the Taliban's leaders changed their stance on polio vaccinations, saying that the vaccine is the only way to prevent polio and they also stated that they will work with immunization volunteers as long as polio workers are "unbiased" and "harmonized with the regional conditions, Islamic values and local cultural traditions."<ref name="poliotelegraph">{{Cite news |last1=Babakarkhail |first1=Z. |last2=Nelson |first2=D. |date=13 May 2013 |title=Taliban renounces war on anti-polio workers |work=The Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/10053981/Taliban-renounces-war-on-anti-polio-workers.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/10053981/Taliban-renounces-war-on-anti-polio-workers.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=27 May 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=14 May 2013 |title=Taliban pledge support for Afghan polio campaign |publisher=[[CBC News]] |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/taliban-pledge-support-for-afghan-polio-campaign-1.1311957 |access-date=27 May 2013 |archive-date=16 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116070303/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/taliban-pledge-support-for-afghan-polio-campaign-1.1311957 |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{further|History of the Jews in Afghanistan}} During the first period of Taliban rule, only two known Jews were left in Afghanistan, [[Zablon Simintov]] and Isaac Levy (c. 1920–2005). Levy relied on charity to survive, while Simintov ran a store selling carpets and jewelry until 2001. They lived on opposite sides of the dilapidated Kabul synagogue. They kept denouncing each other to the authorities, and both spent time in jail for continuously "arguing". The Taliban also confiscated the synagogue's [[Torah scroll]]. However, the two men were later released from prison when Taliban officials became annoyed by their arguing.<ref>Adkins, Laura E. (31 October 2019). [https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/taliban-kicked-arguing-last-afghani-jews-out-of-prison-stole-torah-606457 "'Last Afghani Jews' kicked out of Taliban prison for being too annoying."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817122108/https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/taliban-kicked-arguing-last-afghani-jews-out-of-prison-stole-torah-606457 |date=17 August 2021 }} ''[[The Jerusalem Post]]''. Retrieved 5 October 2020.</ref> After August 2021, the last Jew Simintov and his relative left Afghanistan, ended centuries of Jewish presence in the country.<ref name="apnews">{{Cite web|date=29 October 2021|title=Woman now thought to be Afghanistan's last Jew flees country|url=https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-lifestyle-canada-religion-middle-east-893baa3e2849b0081882d06d1da07535|access-date=12 November 2021|website=AP NEWS|archive-date=4 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704043646/https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-lifestyle-canada-religion-middle-east-893baa3e2849b0081882d06d1da07535|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Woman now thought to be Afghanistan's last Jew flees country|url=https://www.independent.ie/world-news/woman-now-thought-to-be-afghanistans-last-jew-flees-country-40996142.html|access-date=12 November 2021|website=independent|date=29 October 2021|archive-date=14 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211114023212/https://www.independent.ie/world-news/woman-now-thought-to-be-afghanistans-last-jew-flees-country-40996142.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Restrictions on modern education === Before the Taliban came to power, education was highly regarded in Afghanistan and [[Kabul University]] attracted students from Asia and the [[Middle East]]. However, the Taliban imposed restrictions on modern education, banned the education of females, only allowed Islamic religious schools to stay open and only encouraged the teaching of the Qur'an. Around half of all of the schools in Afghanistan were destroyed.<ref name="BBC-education" /> The Taliban have carried out brutal attacks on teachers and students and they have also threatened parents and teachers.<ref name="HRW">{{Cite web |date=11 July 2006 |title=Lessons in Terror Attacks on Education in Afghanistan |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2006/07/10/lessons-terror/attacks-education-afghanistan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022001101/https://www.hrw.org/report/2006/07/10/lessons-terror/attacks-education-afghanistan |archive-date=22 October 2022 |access-date=5 January 2021 |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]}}</ref> As per a 1998 UNICEF report, 9 out of 10 girls and 2 out of 3 boys did not enroll in schools. By 2000, fewer than 4–5% of all Afghan children were being educated at the primary school level and even fewer of them were being educated at higher secondary and university levels.<ref name="BBC-education">{{Cite news |title=Case Study: Education in Afghanistan |publisher=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/casestudy_art26.shtml |archive-date=22 April 2021 |access-date=5 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422145013/http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/casestudy_art26.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

Attacks on educational institutions, students and teachers and the forced enforcement of Islamic teachings have even continued after the Taliban were deposed from power. In December 2017, [[United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs]] (OCHA) reported that over 1,000 schools had been destroyed, damaged or occupied and 100 teachers and students had been killed by the Taliban.<ref name="RefWorld-Education">{{Cite web |date=11 May 2018 |title=Education Under Attack 2018 – Afghanistan |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/5be94317a.html |access-date=5 January 2021 |publisher=Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack |archive-date=15 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815132220/https://www.refworld.org/docid/5be94317a.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Cultural genocide === The Taliban have committed a [[cultural genocide]] against the Afghan people by destroying their historical and cultural texts, artifacts and sculptures.<ref name="RAWA2022">{{Cite web|title=Afghan Taliban leader orders destruction of ancient statues|url=http://www.rawa.org/statues.htm|access-date=10 January 2022|website=www.rawa.org|archive-date=20 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520175246/http://www.rawa.org/statues.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the early 1990s, the [[National Museum of Afghanistan]] was attacked and looted numerous times, resulting in the loss of 70% of the 100,000 artifacts of [[Culture of Afghanistan|Afghan culture]] and [[History of Afghanistan|history]] which were then on display.<ref name="NYT">{{Cite news |last=Burns |first=John F. |date=30 November 1996 |title=Kabul's Museum: The Past Ruined by the Present |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/30/world/kabul-s-museum-the-past-ruined-by-the-present.html |archive-date=4 January 2023 |access-date=5 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230104051927/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/30/world/kabul-s-museum-the-past-ruined-by-the-present.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 11 August 1998, the Taliban destroyed the [[Puli Khumri]] Public Library. The library contained a collection of over 55,000 books and old manuscripts, one of the most valuable and beautiful collections of Afghanistan's cultural works according to the Afghan people.<ref name="Acta Academia">{{Cite web |last=Civallero |first=Edgardo |year=2007 |title=When memory is turn into ashes |url=https://www.aacademica.org/edgardo.civallero/113.pdf |access-date=2 January 2021 |publisher=Acta Academia |archive-date=15 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115154828/https://www.aacademica.org/edgardo.civallero/113.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="antoon">''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4DlMSrtOGLIC Censorship of historical thought: a world guide, 1945–2000]'', Antoon de Baets</ref>

On 2 March 2001, the Buddhas of Bamiyan were destroyed with dynamite, on orders from the Taliban's leader Mullah Omar.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shah |first=Amir |date=3 March 2001 |title=Taliban destroy ancient Buddhist relics – International pleas ignored by Afghanistan's Islamic fundamentalist leaders |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/taliban-destroy-ancient-buddhist-relics-694425.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106181318/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/taliban-destroy-ancient-buddhist-relics-694425.html |archive-date=6 January 2011}}</ref>

In October of the same year, the Taliban "took sledgehammers and axes to thousands of years' worth of artifacts"<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" /> in the National Museum of Afghanistan, destroying at least 2,750 ancient works of art.<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 November 2001 |title=Taliban destroyed museum exhibits |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1363272/Taliban-destroyed-museum-exhibits.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1363272/Taliban-destroyed-museum-exhibits.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Daily Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Afghanistan has a rich musical culture, where [[Music of Afghanistan|music]] plays an important part in social functions like births and marriages and it has also played a major role in uniting an ethnically diverse country.<ref name="The Guardian" /> However, since it came to power and even after it was deposed, the Taliban has banned most music, including cultural folk music, and it has also attacked and killed a number of musicians.<ref name="The Guardian" /><ref name="Free Muse">{{Cite news |date=26 September 2005 |title=Afghanistan: Seven musicians killed by gunmen |work=Free Muse |url=https://freemuse.org/news/afghanistan-seven-musicians-killed-by-gunmen/ |access-date=6 January 2021 |archive-date=8 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108071800/https://freemuse.org/news/afghanistan-seven-musicians-killed-by-gunmen/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="The Guardian-music">{{Cite news |last=Rasmussen |first=Sune Engel |date=25 May 2015 |title=He was the saviour of Afghan music. Then a Taliban bomb took his hearing |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/25/he-was-the-saviour-of-afghan-music-then-a-taliban-bomb-took-his-hearing}}</ref><ref name="RFERL">{{Cite news |date=15 June 2009 |title=Taliban Attacks Musicians At Afghan Wedding |publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/Taliban_Attacks_Musicians_At_Afghan_Wedding/1754647.html |archive-date=9 January 2021 |access-date=6 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109113835/https://www.rferl.org/a/Taliban_Attacks_Musicians_At_Afghan_Wedding/1754647.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Ban on entertainment and recreational activities === During their first rule of Afghanistan which lasted from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban banned many recreational activities and games, such as [[association football]], [[Kite-Flying|kite flying]], and [[chess]]. Mediums of entertainment such as televisions, [[cinemas]], music with instrumental [[accompaniments]], [[Videocassette recorder|VCRs]] and [[satellite dish]]es were also banned.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rashid |first=Ahmed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dld2wJ2Z__4C&pg=PA50 |title=Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia |date=2010 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-16484-8}}</ref> Also included on the list of banned items were "[[musical instrument]]s and accessories" and all visual representation of living creatures.<ref name="The Guardian">{{Cite news |last=Wroe |first=Nicholas |date=13 October 2001 |title=A culture muted |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/13/afghanistan.books |archive-date=16 August 2021 |access-date=5 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816100526/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/13/afghanistan.books |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Afghanistan: Kabul Artists Tricked Taliban To Save Banned Paintings |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1098240.html |access-date=13 August 2021 |newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |date=9 April 2008 |last1=Recknagel |first1=Charles |archive-date=15 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815132210/https://www.rferl.org/a/1098240.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Constable |first=Pamela |date=26 March 2001 |title=Taliban Ban on Idolatry Makes a Country Without Faces |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/03/26/taliban-ban-on-idolatry-makes-a-country-without-faces/ddab672b-622c-4aa6-9709-014ca77d0ded/ |access-date=13 August 2021 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=16 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816220416/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/03/26/taliban-ban-on-idolatry-makes-a-country-without-faces/ddab672b-622c-4aa6-9709-014ca77d0ded/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=O'Neill |first1=Claire |date=27 November 2012 |title=Afghanistan's Love Of The Big Screen |newspaper=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2012/11/26/165944525/afghanistans-love-of-the-big-screen |access-date=13 August 2021 |archive-date=13 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813142736/https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2012/11/26/165944525/afghanistans-love-of-the-big-screen |url-status=live }}</ref> However, the [[daf]], a type of [[frame drum]], wasn't banned.<ref name=":0" />

It was reported that when Afghan children were caught kiting, a highly popular activity, they were beaten.<ref name="rferl.org">{{Cite news |title=Artistry In The Air – Kite Flying Is Taken To New Heights In Afghanistan |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1101400.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203180908/https://www.rferl.org/a/1101400.html |archive-date=3 February 2017 |access-date=21 February 2021 |website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty|last1=Podelco |first1=Grant }}</ref> When [[Khaled Hosseini]] learned through a 1999 news report that the Taliban had banned kite flying, a restriction he found particularly cruel, the news "struck a personal chord" for him, as he had grown up with the sport while living in Afghanistan. Hosseini was motivated to write a 25-page short story about two boys who fly kites in Kabul that he later developed into his first novel, ''[[The Kite Runner]]''.

=== Forced conscription and conscription of children === {{Main|Taliban conscription}}

According to the testimony of [[Guantanamo captive]]s before their [[Combatant Status Review Tribunal]]s, the Taliban, in addition to conscripting men to serve as soldiers, also conscripted men to staff its civil service – both done at gunpoint.<ref name="Flee Taliban">{{Cite news|last=Dixon|first=Robyn|author-link=Robyn Dixon (journalist)|date=13 October 2001|title=Afghans in Kabul Flee Taliban, Not U.S. Raids|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|location=Shirkat|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-oct-13-mn-56835-story.html|access-date=11 December 2012|archive-date=26 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026114238/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-oct-13-mn-56835-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="CsrtNasrullahConscription40">[{{DoD detainees ARB|Set 33 2302-2425 Revised.pdf}} Summarized transcripts (.pdf)], from Nasrullah's ''[[Combatant Status Review Tribunal]]'', p. 40</ref><ref name="CsrtShabirAhmed">[http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_43_2811-2921.pdf Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060731084124/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_43_2811-2921.pdf |date=31 July 2006 }}, from [[Shabir Ahmed (Guantanamo captive)|Shabir Ahmed]]'s ''[[Combatant Status Review Tribunal]]'', pp. 80–90</ref>

According to a report from Oxford University, the Taliban made widespread use of the conscription of children in 1997, 1998 and 1999.<ref name="OxfordJanuary2002">{{Cite web |first1=Jo |last1=Boyden |first2=Jo |last2=de Berry |first3=Thomas |last3=Feeny |first4=Jason |last4=Hart |date=January 2002 |title=Children Affected by Armed Conflict in South Asia: A review of trends and issues identified through secondary research |url=http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/PDFs/workingpaper7.pdf |url-status=dead |publisher=[[University of Oxford]] [[Refugee Studies Centre]] |access-date=5 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070728112528/http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/PDFs/workingpaper7.pdf |archive-date=28 July 2007}}</ref> The report states that during the civil war that preceded the Taliban régime, thousands of orphaned boys joined various militia for "employment, food, shelter, protection and economic opportunity." The report said that during its initial period, the Taliban "long depended upon cohorts of youth". Witnesses stated that each land-owning family had to provide one young man and $500 in expenses. In August of that year 5000 students aged between 15 and 35 left madrassas in Pakistan to join the Taliban.

== Leadership and organization == {{Main|Government of Afghanistan|List of Taliban insurgency leaders}}

;Kandahar faction and Haqqani network According to [[Jon Lee Anderson]] the Taliban government is "said to be profoundly divided" between the Kandahar faction and the [[Haqqani network]], with a mysterious dispearance of deputy Prime Minister [[Abdul Ghani Baradar]] for "several days" in mid-September 2021 explained by rumours of injury after a brawl with other Taliban.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" /> The Kandahar faction is named for the city that Mullah Omar came from and where he founded the Taliban, and is described as "insular" and "rural", interested "primarily" with "ruling its home turf". It includes [[Haibatullah Akhundzada]], [[Mullah Yaqoob]], [[Abdul Ghani Baradar]] (see below).

The family-based [[Haqqani network]], by contrast are "closely linked to Pakistan's secret services", "interested in global jihad", with its founder (Jalaluddin Haqqani) "connected" the Taliban with [[Osama bin Laden]].<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" /> It is named for its founder [[Jalaluddin Haqqani]] and is currently led by [[Sirajuddin Haqqani]], and includes Khalil Haqqani, Mawlawi Mohammad Salim Saad.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" /> With Sirajuddin Haqqani as acting interior minister, as of February 2022, the network has control of "a preponderance of security positions in Afghanistan".<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" />

Taliban leadership have denied tension between factions. Suhail Shaheen states "there is ''one'' Taliban", and Zabihullah Mujahid (acting Deputy Minister of Information and Culture), even maintains "there is no Haqqani network."<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" />

=== Current leadership === The top members of the Taliban, as of August 2021, are:<ref>{{cite news |title=Who are the Taliban leaders now controlling Afghanistan? |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-20/who-are-leaders-taliban-afghanistan/100390308 |newspaper=ABC News |publisher=[[ABC News (Australia)]] |access-date=5 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820061541/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-20/who-are-leaders-taliban-afghanistan/100390308 |archive-date=20 August 2021 |date=20 August 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> * [[Haibatullah Akhundzada]], the Taliban's Supreme Leader since 2016, a religious scholar from Kandahar province. * [[Abdul Ghani Baradar]], co-founder of the movement alongside Mullah Omar, was deputy Prime Minister as of March 2022.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" /> From Uruzgan province, he was imprisoned in Pakistan before his release at the request of the United States. * [[Mullah Yaqoob]], the son of the Taliban's founder Mullah Omar and leader of the group's military operations. * [[Sirajuddin Haqqani]], leader of the [[Haqqani network]] is acting interior minister as of February 2022, with authority over police and intelligence services. He oversees the group's financial and military assets between the [[Afghanistan-Pakistan border]]. The U.S. government has a $10 million bounty for his arrest brought on by several terrorist attacks on hotels and the Indian Embassy.<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" /> * [[Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai]], former head of the group's political office in Doha. From Logar province, he holds a university master's degree and trained as a cadet at the Indian Military Academy. * [[Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai]], chief negotiatior of the group's political office in Doha, replacing Stanikzai in 2020. Heads the Taliban's powerful council of religious scholars. * [[Suhail Shaheen]], Taliban nominee for Ambassador to the U.N.; former spokesperson of the Taliban's political office in Doha. University educated in Pakistan, he was editor of the English language ''[[Kabul Times]]'' in the 1990s and served as a deputy ambassador to Pakistan at the time. * [[Zabihullah Mujahid]], the Taliban's spokesperson since 2007. He revealed himself to the public for the first time after the group's capture of Kabul in 2021.

All the top leadership of the Taliban are ethnic Pashtuns, more specifically those belonging of the [[Ghilzai]] confederation.<ref name="USMA">{{Cite web|url = https://www.ctc.usma.edu/tribal-dynamics-of-the-afghanistan-and-pakistan-insurgencies/|title = Tribal Dynamics of the Afghanistan and Pakistan Insurgencies|date = 15 August 2009|access-date = 21 October 2021|archive-date = 21 October 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211021132110/https://www.ctc.usma.edu/tribal-dynamics-of-the-afghanistan-and-pakistan-insurgencies/|url-status = dead}}</ref>

=== Overview ===

Until his death in 2013, Mullah Omar was the supreme commander of the Taliban. [[Akhtar Mansour|Mullah Akhtar Mansour]] was elected as his replacement in 2015,<ref name="Mansoor-elected">* {{cite news| url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/144382.stm | title=Analysis: Who are the Taleban? | date=20 December 2000 | work=BBC News}} * {{Cite web |title=From the article on the Taliban in Oxford Islamic Studies Online |url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2325?_hi=34&_pos=4 |access-date=27 August 2010 |publisher=Oxford Islamic Studies}} * [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33721074 Mullah Omar: Taliban choose deputy Mansour as successor], BBC News, 30 July 2015</ref> and following Mansour's killing in a May 2016 US drone strike, Mawlawi [[Hibatullah Akhundzada]] became the group's leader.<ref name="Akhundzada">{{Cite web |date=26 May 2015 |title=Afghan Taliban announce successor to Mullah Mansour |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36375975 |access-date=26 May 2016 |website=BBC News}}</ref>

The Taliban initially enjoyed goodwill from Afghans weary of the warlords' corruption, brutality, and incessant fighting.<ref>Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim world / editor in chief, Richard C. Martin, Macmillan Reference US : Thomson/Gale, 2004</ref> This popularity was not universal, particularly among non-Pashtuns.

In 2001, the Taliban, ''[[de jure]]'', controlled 85% of Afghanistan. ''De facto'' the areas under its direct control were mainly Afghanistan's major cities and highways. Tribal [[Khan (title)|khans]] and warlords had ''de facto'' direct control over various small towns, villages, and rural areas.<ref>Griffiths 226.</ref> [[File:Taliban-herat-2001 retouched.jpg|upright|thumb|left|Taliban police patrolling the streets of [[Herat]] in a pick-up truck]]

Rashid described the Taliban government as "a secret society run by [[Kandahar]]is ... mysterious, secretive, and dictatorial."<ref name="Rashid 2000 98" /> They did not hold elections, as their spokesman explained:

{{blockquote|The ''[[Sharia]]'' does not allow politics or political parties. That is why we give no salaries to officials or soldiers, just food, clothes, shoes, and weapons. We want to live a life like the Prophet lived 1400 years ago, and jihad is our right. We want to recreate the time of the Prophet, and we are only carrying out what the Afghan people have wanted for the past 14 years.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|p=43}} Interview with Mullah Wakil, March 1996</ref>}}

They modelled their decision-making process on the Pashtun tribal council (''[[jirga]]''), together with what they believed to be the early Islamic model. Discussion was followed by a building of a consensus by the "believers".<ref name="Rashid 2000 95" /> Before capturing Kabul, there was talk of stepping aside once a government of "good Muslims" took power, and law and order were restored.

As the Taliban's power grew, decisions were made by Mullah Omar without consulting the ''jirga'' and without consulting 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 four [[Caliph]]s. On 4 April 1996, Mullah Omar had "the [[Cloak of Muhammad|Cloak of the Prophet Mohammed]]" taken from its shrine for the first time in 60 years. Wrapping himself in the relic, he appeared on the roof of a building in the center of Kandahar while hundreds of Pashtun [[mullah]]s below shouted "[[Amir al-Mu'minin]]!" (Commander of the Faithful), in a pledge of support. Taliban spokesman Mullah Wakil explained:

{{blockquote|Decisions are based on the advice of the Amir-ul Momineen. For us consultation is not necessary. We believe that this is in line with the ''Sharia''. We abide by the Amir's view even if he alone takes this view. There will not be a head of state. Instead there will be an Amir al-Mu'minin. Mullah Omar will be the highest authority, and the government will not be able to implement any decision to which he does not agree. General elections are incompatible with ''Sharia'' and therefore we reject them.<ref name="ReferenceD" />}}

The Taliban were very reluctant to share power, and since their ranks were overwhelmingly Pashtun they ruled as overlords over the 60% of Afghans from other ethnic groups. In local government, such as Kabul city council<ref name="Rashid 2000 98">{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|p=98}}.</ref> or Herat,<ref name="rashid 39-40">{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|pp=39–40}}.</ref> Taliban loyalists, not locals, dominated, even when the Pashto-speaking Taliban could not communicate with the roughly half of the population who spoke Dari or other non-Pashtun tongues.<ref name="rashid 39-40" /> Critics complained that this "lack of local representation in urban administration made the Taliban appear as an occupying force."<ref name="rashid 101-102" />

=== Organization and governance === Consistent with the governance of the early Muslims was the absence of state institutions and the absence of "a methodology for command and control", both of which are standard today, even in non-Westernized states. The Taliban did not issue press releases or policy statements, nor did they hold regular press conferences. The basis for this structure was [[Grand Mufti]] [[Rashid Ahmed Ludhianvi]]'s ''Obedience to the Amir,'' as he served as a mentor to the Taliban's leadership.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Semple|first=Michael|date=2014|title=Rhetoric, Ideology, and Organizational Structure of the Taliban Movement|url=https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/187121/PW102-Rhetoric-Ideology-and-Organizational-Structure-of-the-Taliban-Movement.pdf|journal=[[United States Institute of Peace]]|pages=10–11}}</ref> The outside world and most Afghans did not even know what their leaders looked like, because photography was banned.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|p=5}}.</ref> The "regular army" resembled a lashkar or traditional tribal [[militia]] force with only 25,000 men (of whom 11,000 were non-Afghans).

Cabinet ministers and deputies were mullahs with a "[[madrasah]] education". Several of them, such as the Minister of Health and the Governor of the State bank, were primarily military commanders who left their administrative posts and fought whenever they were needed. Military reverses that trapped them behind enemy lines or led to their deaths increased the chaos in the national administration.<ref>{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|p=100}}.</ref> At the national level, "all senior Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara bureaucrats" were replaced "with Pashtuns, whether qualified or not". Consequently, the ministries "by and large ceased to function".<ref name="rashid 101-102">{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|pp=101–102}}.</ref>

The Ministry of Finance did not have a budget nor did it have a "qualified economist or banker". Mullah Omar collected and disbursed cash without bookkeeping.

== Economic activities == {{See also|Economy of Afghanistan}}

The Kabul money markets responded positively during the first weeks of the Taliban occupation (1996). But the [[Afghan afghani|Afghani]] soon fell in value. They imposed a 50% tax on any company operating in the country, and those who failed to pay were attacked. They also imposed a 6% import tax on anything brought into the country, and by 1998 had control of the major airports and border crossings which allowed them to establish a monopoly on all trade. By 2001, the per capita income of the 25&nbsp;million population was under $200, and the country was close to total economic collapse. As of 2007 the economy had begun to recover, with estimated foreign reserves of three billion dollars and a 13% increase in economic growth.<ref name="Skaine1" /><ref name="Lansford-147">{{Cite book |last=Lansford |first=Tom |title=9/11 and the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: A Chronology and Reference Guide |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-59884-419-1 |page=147}}</ref><ref name="Marsden">{{Cite book |last=Marsden |first=Peter |url=https://archive.org/details/talibanwarreligi0000mars/page/51 |title=The Taliban: war, religion and the new order in Afghanistan |publisher=Zed Books |year=1998 |isbn=978-1-85649-522-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/talibanwarreligi0000mars/page/51 51]}}</ref><ref name="Pugh1">{{Cite book |last1=Pugh |first1=Michael C. |title=War Economies in a Regional Context: Challenges of Transformation |first2=Neil |last2=Cooper |first3=Jonathan |last3=Goodhand |publisher=Lynne Rienner |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-58826-211-0 |page=48}}</ref><ref name="Castillo">{{Cite book |author-link=Graciana del Castillo |first=Graciana |last=del Castillo |title=Rebuilding War-Torn States: The Challenge of Post-Conflict Economic Reconstruction |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-923773-9 |page=167}}</ref><ref name="Skaine2">{{Cite book |last=Skaine |first=Rosemarie |title=Women of Afghanistan in the Post-Taliban Era: How Lives Have Changed and Where They Stand Today |publisher=McFarland |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7864-3792-4 |page=58}}</ref> [[File:ANA soldier shows opium captured in an alleged Taliban safe house in Helmand.jpg|thumb|right|Opium in Taliban safehouse in [[Helmand]]]] Under the Transit treaty between Afghanistan and Pakistan, a massive network for smuggling developed. It had an estimated turnover of 2.5&nbsp;billion dollars with the Taliban receiving between $100 and $130&nbsp;million per year. These operations along with the trade from the [[Golden Crescent]] financed the war in Afghanistan and also had the side effect of destroying start up industries in Pakistan. [[Ahmed Rashid]] also explained that the Afghan Transit Trade agreed on by Pakistan was "the largest official source of revenue for the Taliban."<ref name="Nojum1">{{Cite book |last=Nojum |first=Neamatollah |url=https://archive.org/details/riseoftalibani00neam/page/178 |title=The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War and the Future of the Region |publisher=St Martin's Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-312-29584-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/riseoftalibani00neam/page/178 178]}}</ref><ref name="Nojum2">{{Cite book |last=Nojum |first=Neamatollah |url=https://archive.org/details/riseoftalibani00neam/page/186 |title=The Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan: Mass Mobilization, Civil War and the Future of the Region |publisher=St Martin's Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-312-29584-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/riseoftalibani00neam/page/186 186]}}</ref><ref name="Chouvy1">{{Cite book |last=Chouvy |first=Pierre-Arnaud |title=Opium: uncovering the politics of the poppy |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2010 |pages=52ff}}</ref>

Between 1996 and 1999, Mullah Omar reversed his opinions on the drug trade, apparently as it only harmed [[kafirs]]. The Taliban controlled 96% of Afghanistan's poppy fields and made opium its largest source of taxation. Taxes on opium exports became one of the mainstays of Taliban income and their war economy. According to Rashid, "drug money funded the weapons, ammunition and fuel for the war." In ''The New York Times'', the Finance Minister of the United Front, [[Wahidullah Sabawoon]], declared the Taliban had no annual budget but that they "appeared to spend US$300 million a year, nearly all of it on war." He added that the Taliban had come to increasingly rely on three sources of money: "[[poppy]], the Pakistanis and bin Laden."<ref name="Chouvy1" />

In an economic sense it seems he had little choice, as the war of attrition continued with the Northern Alliance the income from continued opium production was all that prevented the country from starvation. By 2000, Afghanistan accounted for an estimated 75% of the world's supply and in 2000 grew an estimated 3276 tonnes of opium from poppy cultivation on 82,171 hectares. At this juncture Omar passed a decree banning the cultivation of opium, and production dropped to an estimated 74 metric tonnes from poppy cultivation on 1,685 hectares. Many observers say the ban – which came in a bid for international recognition at the United Nations – was only issued in order to raise opium prices and increase profit from the sale of large existing stockpiles. 1999 had yielded a record crop and had been followed by a lower but still large 2000 harvest. The trafficking of accumulated stocks by the Taliban continued in 2000 and 2001. In 2002, the UN mentioned the "existence of significant stocks of opiates accumulated during previous years of bumper harvests." In September 2001 – before the 11 September attacks against the United States – the Taliban allegedly authorised Afghan peasants to sow opium again.<ref name="Chouvy1" /><ref name="Shaffer3">{{Cite book |last=Shaffer |first=Brenda |url=https://archive.org/details/limitsofculturei0000unse/page/283 |title=The limits of culture: Islam and foreign policy |publisher=MIT Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-262-69321-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/limitsofculturei0000unse/page/283 283]}}</ref><ref name="Thourni">{{Cite book |last=Thourni |first=Francisco E. |title=The Organized Crime Community: Essays in Honor of Alan A. Block |publisher=Springer |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-387-39019-2 |editor-last=Bovenkerk |editor-first=Frank |page=130}}</ref><ref name="Lyman">{{Cite book |last=Lyman |first=Michael D. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_2901437744506/page/309 |title=Drugs in Society: Causes, Concepts and Control |publisher=Elsevier |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4377-4450-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_2901437744506/page/309 309]}}</ref>

There was also an environmental toll to the country, heavy deforestation from the illegal trade in timber with hundreds of acres of pine and cedar forests in [[Kunar Province]] and [[Loya Paktia|Paktya]] being cleared. Throughout the country millions of acres were denuded to supply timber to the Pakistani markets, with no attempt made at reforestation, which has led to significant environmental damage. By 2001, when the [[Afghan Interim Administration]] took power the country's infrastructure was in ruins, Telecommunications had failed, the road network was destroyed and Ministry of Finance buildings were in such a state of disrepair some were on the verge of collapse. On 6 July 1999, then president [[Bill Clinton]] signed into effect executive order 13129. This order implemented a complete ban on any trade between America and the Taliban régime and on 10 August they froze £5,000,000 in Ariana assets. On 19 December 2000, UN resolution 1333 was passed. It called for all assets to be frozen and for all states to close any offices belonging to the Taliban. This included the offices of [[Ariana Afghan Airlines]]. In 1999, the UN had passed resolution 1267 which had banned all international flights by Ariana apart from preapproved humanitarian missions.<ref name="Griffin">{{Cite book |last=Griffin |first=Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/reapingwhirlwind00grif |title=Reaping the whirlwind: the Taliban movement in Afghanistan |publisher=Pluto Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-7453-1274-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/reapingwhirlwind00grif/page/147 147] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Wehr">{{Cite book |last=Wehr |first=Kevin |url=https://archive.org/details/greencultureatoz0000unse/page/223 |title=Green Culture: An A-to-Z Guide |publisher=Sage |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4129-9693-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/greencultureatoz0000unse/page/223 223]}}</ref><ref name="Rashid">{{Cite book |last=Rashid |first=Ahmed |title=Taliban: Islam, oil and the new great game in central Asia |publisher=I.B.Tauris |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-86064-830-4 |page=187}}</ref><ref name="Clements">{{Cite book |last=Clements |first=Frank |title=Conflict in Afghanistan: a historical encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85109-402-8 |page=148}}</ref><ref name="Bennett">{{Cite book |last=Bennett |first=Adam |title=Reconstructing Afghanistan |publisher=International Monetary Fund |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-58906-324-2 |edition=illustrated |page=29}}</ref><ref name="Farah">{{Cite book |last1=Farah |first1=Douglas |title=Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible |last2=Braun |first2=Stephen |publisher=Wiley |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-470-26196-5 |page=146}}</ref><ref name="Askari">{{Cite book |last=Askari |first=Hossein |title=Economic sanctions: examining their philosophy and efficacy |publisher=Potomac |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-56720-542-8 |page=56}}</ref><ref name="Pillar">{{Cite book |last=Pillar |first=Paul R. |title=Terrorism and U.S. foreign policy |publisher=Brookings Institution |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8157-7077-0 |page=77}}</ref>

According to the lawsuit, filed in December 2019 in the [[United States District Court for the District of Columbia|D.C. District Court]] on behalf of [[Gold Star Families for Peace|Gold Star families]], some US [[List of defense contractors|defense contractors]] involved in Afghanistan made illegal "protection payments" to the Taliban, funding a "Taliban-led terrorist insurgency" that killed or wounded thousands of Americans in Afghanistan.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 December 2019 |title=US contractors sued for allegedly paying 'protection money' to the Taliban in Afghanistan |publisher=CNBC |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/27/lawsuit-contractors-paid-protection-money-used-in-terrorist-insurgency.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=28 December 2019 |title=Gold Star Families Sue Defense Contractors, Alleging They Funded The Taliban |publisher=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/12/28/792065458/gold-star-families-sue-defense-contractors-alleging-they-funded-the-taliban}}</ref> In 2009, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the "protection money" was "one of the major sources of funding for the Taliban."<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 December 2019 |title=Gold Star family lawsuit alleges contractors in Afghanistan funneled money to the Taliban |work=CNN|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/27/politics/afghanistan-contractor-suit/index.html}}</ref>

It is estimated that in 2020 the Taliban had an income of $1.6 billion, mostly from drugs, mining, extortion and taxes, donations and exports.<ref name="Sufizada">{{Cite news |last=Sufizada |first=Hanif |date=8 December 2020 |title=The Taliban are megarich – here's where they get the money they use to wage war in Afghanistan |work=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]] |url=https://theconversation.com/the-taliban-are-megarich-heres-where-they-get-the-money-they-use-to-wage-war-in-afghanistan-147411 |access-date=19 August 2021}}</ref>

On 2 November 2021, the Taliban required that all economic transactions in Afghanistan use [[Afghan afghani|Afghanis]] and banned the use of all foreign currency.<ref>{{cite web |title=Taliban bans the use of foreign currency across Afghanistan |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/2/taliban-bans-use-of-foreign-currency-across-afghanistan |website=Al Jazeera |access-date=3 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Taliban forbid use of US dollar, other foreign currency |url=https://thehill.com/policy/international/579669-taliban-forbid-use-of-us-dollar-other-foreign-currency |work=The Hill |date=2 November 2021 |access-date=3 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Taliban bar Afghans from using foreign currency as economy spirals |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/11/02/taliban-ban-foreign-currency-afghanistan/ |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=3 November 2021}}</ref>

In 2022 construction on the [[Qosh Tepa Canal]] began in northern Afghanistan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://eurasianet.org/unexplained-spill-fuels-concern-about-afghan-canal-project|title=Unexplained spill fuels concern about Afghan canal project |work=Eurasianet}}</ref>

On 20 April 2024, the Taliban decided to abolish Afghanistan's pension system as [[Hibatullah Akhundzada]] claimed it was "un-Islamic", which prompted protests by retirees and older veterans of the [[Afghan Armed Forces]] in [[Kabul]]. The protest was dispersed by the Taliban.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Siddique |first=Abubakar |date=27 April 2024 |title=The Azadi Briefing: Afghans Protest Taliban's Decision To Abolish Pension System |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-taliban-pensions-pakistan-balochistan/32921972.html |access-date=27 April 2024 |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty}}</ref>

== International relations == {{main|International relations with the Taliban}}

During the war, the Taliban were supported by several militant outfits which include the [[Haqqani network]], [[Al-Qaeda]] and the [[Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan]]. Several countries like China, Iran, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia and Saudi Arabia allegedly support the Taliban.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Siddique |first=Abubakar |date=30 May 2024 |title=Which Countries Have Relations With The Taliban's Unrecognized Government? |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-taliban-russia-diplomacy/32972530.html |access-date=14 November 2025 |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |language=en}}</ref> However, all of their governments deny providing any support to the Taliban. Likewise, the Taliban also deny receiving any foreign support from any country.<ref>{{cite web |date=1 April 2018 |title=Is Russia arming the Afghan Taliban? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41842285 |website=BBC News |quote=A Taliban spokesman said that the Taliban had not "received military assistance from any country".}}</ref> It is designated by some countries as a terrorist organization.<ref name="dni.gov" />

During its first time in power (1996–2001), at its height ruling 90% of Afghanistan, the Taliban regime, or Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, gained [[diplomatic recognition]] from only three states: the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, all of which provided substantial aid. In the past, Turkmenistan were also alleged to have provided support to the Taliban.<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 July 2021 |title=Central Asian counties' policy towards the Taliban changes |url=https://www.asiaplustj.info/en/news/centralasia/20210713/central-asian-counties-policy-towards-the-taliban-changes- |access-date=14 November 2025 |website=Tajikistan News ASIA-Plus}}</ref>

The most other nations and organizations, including the United Nations, recognised the [[Islamic State of Afghanistan]] (1992–2002), represented by the [[Northern Alliance]], as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Regarding its relations with the rest of the world, the Taliban's Islamic Emirate held a [[Foreign policy|policy]] of [[isolationism]]: "The Taliban believe in non-interference in the affairs of other countries and similarly desire no outside interference in their country's internal affairs".{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|page=42}}

[[File:Secretary Pompeo Meets With the Taliban Delegation (50333305012).jpg|thumb|US Secretary of State [[Mike Pompeo]] meeting with Taliban delegation in [[Doha]], Qatar, on 12 September 2020]] Traditionally, the Taliban were supported by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, while Iran, Russia, Turkey, India, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan supported the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rashid |first=Ahmed |author-link=Ahmed Rashid |date=2022 |title=Taliban: The Power of Militant Islam in Afghanistan and Beyond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TvR-EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 |edition=3rd |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-26682-5 |page=5}}</ref> After the fall of the Taliban régime at the end of 2001, the composition of the Taliban supporters changed. According to a study by scholar Antonio Giustozzi, in the years 2005 to 2015 most of the financial support came from the states Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, and Qatar, as well as from private donors from Saudi Arabia, from al-Qaeda and, for a short period of time, from the Islamic State.<ref>{{cite book |last=Giustozzi |first=Antonio |date=2019 |title=The Taliban at War, 2001–2018 |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-009239-9 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ch6sDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA260 260], [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ch6sDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA270 270]}}</ref> About 54 percent of the funding came from foreign governments, 10 percent from private donors from abroad, and 16 percent from al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. In 2014, the amount of external support was close to $900 million.<ref>{{cite book |last=Giustozzi |first=Antonio |date=2019 |title=The Taliban at War, 2001–2018 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ch6sDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA243 |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-009239-9 |pages=243–245}}</ref>

Following the Taliban's ascension to power, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan's model of [[governance]] has been widely criticized by the international community, despite the government's repeated calls for international recognition and engagement. Acting Prime Minister [[Hasan Akhund|Mohammad Hassan Akhund]] stated that his interim administration has met all conditions required for official recognition.<ref name="Voice of America">{{Cite web |date=19 January 2022 |title=Afghan Acting PM Urges World to Recognize Taliban Government |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/afghan-acting-pm-urges-world-to-recognize-taliban-government/6403147.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250714193120/https://www.voanews.com/a/afghan-acting-pm-urges-world-to-recognize-taliban-government/6403147.html |archive-date=14 July 2025 |access-date=25 May 2022 |website=VOA}}</ref> In a bid to gain recognition, the Taliban sent a letter in September 2021 to the UN to accept [[Suhail Shaheen]] as [[Permanent representative|Permanent Representative]] of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan – a request that had already been rejected by the [[United Nations Credentials Committee|UN Credentials Committee]] in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Islamic Emirate's Envoy Seeks UN Acceptance |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-174856 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250714191331/https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-174856 |archive-date=14 July 2025 |access-date=25 May 2022 |website=TOLOnews}}</ref>

With regards to international relations after the [[2021 Taliban offensive|Taliban seizure of Afghanistan]] in 2021, Taliban spokesperson [[Suhail Shaheen]] told the Russian news agency ''[[Sputnik (news agency)|Sputnik]]'': "Of course, we won't have any relations with [[Israel]]. We want to have relations with other countries; Israel is not among these countries. We would like to have relations with all the regional countries and neighbouring countries as well as [[Asia]]n countries."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kampeas |first=Ron |date=10 September 2021 |title=Taliban Says It Wants Ties With U.S. and Rest of the World – but Not Israel |url=https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/asia-and-australia/taliban-says-it-wants-ties-with-u-s-and-rest-of-the-world-but-not-israel-1.10197657 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220405151813/https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/asia-and-australia/taliban-says-it-wants-ties-with-u-s-and-rest-of-the-world-but-not-israel-1.10197657 |archive-date=5 April 2022 |access-date=17 September 2021 |work=Haaretz}}</ref>

[[File:Takashi Okada and Amir Khan Muttaqi.jpg|thumb|Taliban Foreign Minister [[Amir Khan Muttaqi]] (right) with Japanese Ambassador Takashi Okada in May 2022]] On 10 October 2021, Russia hosted the Taliban for talks in [[Moscow]] in an effort to boost its influence across [[Central Asia]]. Officials from 10 different countries – Russia, China, Pakistan, India, Iran and five formerly [[Soviet Central Asia]]n states – attended the talks, which were held during the Taliban's first official trip to Europe since their return to power in mid-August 2021.<ref>{{cite web |date=20 October 2021 |title=Taliban wins backing for aid at Moscow talks, with regional powers saying US and allies should pay |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/20/europe/russia-taliban-talks-moscow-intl/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250714190935/https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/20/europe/russia-taliban-talks-moscow-intl/index.html |archive-date=14 July 2025 |website=[[CNN]]}}</ref> The Taliban won backing from the 10 regional powers for the idea of a United Nations donor conference to help the country stave off economic collapse and a humanitarian catastrophe, calling for the UN to convene such a conference as soon as possible to help rebuild the country. Russian officials also called for action against [[Islamic State]] (IS) fighters, who Russia said have started to increase their presence in Afghanistan since the Taliban's takeover. The Taliban delegation, which was led by Deputy Prime Minister [[Abdul Salam Hanafi]], said that "Isolating Afghanistan is in no one's interests," arguing that the extremist group did not pose any security threat to any other country. The Taliban asked the international community to recognize its government,<ref>{{cite web |title=Taliban pleads for recognition at Moscow talks |url=https://www.dw.com/en/taliban-pleads-for-recognition-at-moscow-talks/a-59559553 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250714191604/https://www.dw.com/en/taliban-pleads-for-recognition-at-moscow-talks/a-59559553 |archive-date=14 July 2025 |website=[[Deutsche Welle]]}}</ref> but no country has yet recognized the new Afghan government.<ref name="Voice of America"/>

On 23 January 2022, a Taliban delegation arrived in [[Oslo]], and closed-door meetings were held during the Taliban's first official trip to Western Europe and second official trip to Europe since their return to power.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Taliban delegation begins talks in Oslo |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/23/taliban-delegation-arrives-in-norway-for-first-talks-with-west |access-date=25 May 2022 |website=Al Jazeera}}</ref> Western diplomats told the Taliban that [[humanitarian aid]] to Afghanistan would be tied to an improvement in [[human rights]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=At Oslo talks, West presses Taliban on rights, girls education |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/26/west-links-afghan-humanitarian-aid-to-human-rights |access-date=25 May 2022 |website=Al Jazeera}}</ref> The Taliban delegation, led by acting Foreign Minister [[Amir Khan Muttaqi]], met senior French foreign ministry officials, Britain's special envoy [[Nigel Casey]], [[European Union Special Representative|EU Special Representative]] for Afghanistan and members of the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Norway)|Norwegian foreign ministry]]. This followed the announcement by the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee that the committee would extend a travel ban exemption until 21 March 2022 for 14 listed Taliban members to continue attending talks, along with a limited asset-freeze exemption for the financing of exempted travel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UN Extends Exemption of Travel Ban on Islamic Emirate Leaders |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-176022 |access-date=25 May 2022 |website=TOLOnews}}</ref> However, the [[Afghan Foreign Minister]] Amir Khan Muttaqi said that the international community's call for the formation of an inclusive government was a political "excuse" after the 3-day Oslo visit.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Intl Community Yet to Define 'Inclusive Govt': Islamic Emirate |url=https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-176481 |access-date=25 May 2022 |website=TOLOnews}}</ref> [[File:Iran vs Afghanistan.jpg|thumb|[[Abdul Ghani Baradar]] with Iranian Foreign Minister [[Hossein Amir-Abdollahian]] in 2023]] At the United Nations Security Council meeting in New York on 26 January 2022, Norwegian Prime Minister [[Jonas Gahr Støre]] said the Oslo talks appeared to have been "serious" and "genuine". Norway says the talks do "not represent a legitimization or recognition of the Taliban".<ref>{{Cite web |title=With Afghanistan 'Hanging by a Thread', Security Council Delegates Call on Taliban to Tackle Massive Security, Economic Concerns, Respect Women's Equal Rights |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2022/sc14776.doc.htm |access-date=25 May 2022 |website=UN Web TV}}</ref> In the same meeting, the Russian Federation's delegate said attempts to engage the Taliban through coercion are counter-productive, calling on Western states and donors to return frozen funds.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The situation in Afghanistan – Security Council, 8954th meeting |url=https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1z/k1zhkj88vx |access-date=25 May 2022 |website= UN Web TV |date=26 January 2022 |archive-date=25 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525162958/https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1z/k1zhkj88vx |url-status=dead }}</ref> China's representative said the fact that aid deliveries have not improved since the adoption of UNSC 2615 (2021) proves that the issue has been politicized, as some parties seek to use assistance as a bargaining chip.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Security Council Unanimously Adopts Resolution 2615 (2021), Enabling Provision of Humanitarian Aid to Afghanistan as Country Faces Economic Crisis |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/sc14750.doc.htm |access-date=25 May 2022 |website=UN Web TV}}</ref>

Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, the Russian Federation, and China were the first countries to accept the [[Letter of credence|diplomatic credentials]] of Taliban-appointed envoys, although this is not equivalent to official recognition.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 March 2022 |title=Turkmenistan becomes first Central Asian country to recognise Taliban envoy to Afghan embassy in Ashgabat |url=https://theprint.in/world/turkmenistan-becomes-first-central-asian-country-to-recognise-taliban-envoy-to-afghan-embassy-in-ashgabat/882842/ |access-date=25 May 2022 |website=ThePrint}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=First Diplomat Of Taliban-Led Afghanistan Accredited In Moscow |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/moscow-accredits-afghan-taliban-diplomat/31779443.html |access-date=25 May 2022 |newspaper=Radiofreeeurope/Radioliberty}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lalzoy |first=Najibullah |date=4 April 2022 |title=China agrees to accept credentials of Taliban diplomats: Afghan FM |work=The Khaama Press News Agency |url=https://www.khaama.com/china-agrees-to-accept-credentials-of-taliban-diplomats-afghan-fm-435634745/ |access-date=25 May 2022}}</ref>

[[File:17-й саммит Организации экономического сотрудничества 2025.jpg|thumb|Group photo at the 17th [[Economic Cooperation Organization]] summit in [[Stepanakert|Khankendi]], Azerbaijan, featuring [[Abdul Ghani Baradar]], 4 July 2025]] On 4 July 2024, the Russian president [[Vladimir Putin]] stated that the Taliban is an ally of Russia in the fight against terrorism.<ref>{{Cite news | date=4 July 2024 |title=Vladimir Putin Says Taliban Russia's "Allies" In Fighting Terrorism |url=https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/vladimir-putin-says-taliban-russias-allies-in-fighting-terrorism-6034602|access-date=5 July 2024| work=NDTV}}</ref>

In November 2024, Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry announced that Taliban officials would attend the [[2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference]] (COP29), marking the country's first participation since the Taliban regained control in 2021. Afghanistan had been unable to attend previous climate summits due to the lack of international recognition of the Taliban government. Despite this, the Taliban's environmental officials emphasized that climate change should be viewed as a humanitarian issue rather than a political one, arguing that addressing it transcends political disputes.<ref>{{cite news|title=Afghanistan's Taliban send delegation to COP climate summit |date=10 November 2024 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/afghanistans-taliban-send-delegation-to-cop-climate-summit/a-70746139 |website=DW News |access-date=11 November 2024}}</ref>

[[File:Amir Khan Muttaqi S Jaishankar New Delhi Oct 2025 1.jpg|thumb|right|Afghan Foreign Minister [[Amir Khan Muttaqi]] with Indian minister of External Affairs [[S. Jaishankar]] in [[New Delhi]], India, 9 October 2025]] After the [[fall of the Assad regime]] in Syria, the Taliban congratulated the [[Syrian opposition to Bashar al-Assad|Syrian opposition]] and "the people of Syria", hoping for "a peaceful, unified and stable system".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Nierenberg |first=Amelia |date=8 December 2024 |title=Governments around the globe expressed cautious optimism over the future of Syria. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/08/world/middleeast/syria-global-reactions-world-leaders.html |access-date=8 December 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

In April 2025, Russia's [[Supreme Court of Russia|supreme court]] lifted the Taliban's designation as a terrorist organization.<ref name="apnews.com">{{Cite web |date=17 April 2025 |title=Russia's top court lifts terror group designation on Afghanistan's Taliban |url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-taliban-designation-court-change-986619152dae1eeb5123deea22fc4633 |access-date=17 April 2025 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> On 3 July, Russia became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban as the ''[[de jure]]'' government of Afghanistan.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Trevelyan |first1=Mark |last2=Trevelyan |first2=Mark |date=3 July 2025 |title=Russia becomes first country to recognise Taliban government of Afghanistan |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/russia-becomes-first-country-recognise-taliban-government-afghanistan-2025-07-03/ |access-date=3 July 2025 |work=[[Reuters]] |language=en}}</ref>

In October 2025, India affirmed its support for Afghanistan and upgraded its Kabul technical mission to embassy status.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mohammadi|first=Habib|date=10 October 2025|title=India upgrades Kabul technical mission to embassy status|url=https://amu.tv/204516/|access-date=10 October 2025|website=Amu TV|language=en-US}}</ref> Indian External Minister S. Jaishankar called Pakistan a "shared threat" for both India and Afghanistan.<ref>{{Cite news |title='Contiguous neighbour': Jaishankar calls Pakistan 'shared threat' for India and Afghanistan; sends clear message on PoK|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/contiguous-neighbour-jaishankar-calls-pakistan-shared-threat-for-india-and-afghanistan-sends-clear-message-on-pok/articleshow/124451915.cms|access-date=10 October 2025|work=The Times of India|issn=0971-8257}}</ref>

=== Designation as a terrorist organization === {{further|Islamic terrorism|List of designated terrorist groups|Religious terrorism}} The Taliban movement is officially illegal in the following countries to date: * {{flag|Argentina}}<ref name="arg-repet">{{cite web |author=Ministerio de Justicia y Derechos Humanos de la Nación |title=RePET |url=https://repet.jus.gob.ar/#entidades |access-date=2 March 2025 |language=es}}</ref> * {{flag|Bahrain}}<ref name="bahrain-list">{{cite web |title=Bahrain Terrorist List (individuals – entities) |url=https://www.mofa.gov.bh/Default.aspx?tabid=12342&language=en-US |access-date=3 March 2020 |publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain}}</ref> * {{CAN}}<ref name="Terror2021">{{Cite web |title=Currently listed entities |url=http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/cntr-trrrsm/lstd-ntts/crrnt-lstd-ntts-eng.aspx |access-date=23 October 2014 |publisher=Public Safety Canada}}</ref> * {{flag|Japan}}<ref name="mofajp2005">{{cite web |author=Diplomatic Bluebook |year=2005 |title=Japan's Foreign Policy in Major Diplomatic Fields |url=https://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/other/bluebook/2005/ch3-a.pdf |access-date=2 March 2022}}</ref> * {{flag|New Zealand}}<ref name="nz-list" /> * {{flag|Tajikistan}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hgu.tj/news/post/tolibon-sozmoni-terroristi-ki-dar-toikiston-va-rusia-mamnu-ast.html|title="Толибон" – созмони террористӣ, ки дар Тоҷикистон ва Русия мамнӯъ аст|website=www.hgu.tj}}</ref> * {{flag|Turkey}}<ref name="bozbas" /> * {{flag|United Arab Emirates}}<ref name="uae-2017-18" /> * {{flag|United States}} (some Taliban leaders as [[Specially Designated Global Terrorist]]s),<ref name="USDT">{{cite web |title=928 I Office of Foreign Assets Control |url=https://ofac.treasury.gov/faqs/928 |publisher=[[United States Department of the Treasury]] |access-date=15 October 2024 |date=22 December 2021 |archive-date=26 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240926175959/https://ofac.treasury.gov/faqs/928 |url-status=live }}</ref> though the entire organization (except Haqqani network) is not listed on the [[United States Department of State list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Foreign Terrorist Organizations |newspaper=United States Department of State |url=https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/ |publisher=U.S. Department of State}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=More Republicans call on Biden to designate Taliban as terrorist group| url=https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/572312-more-republicans-call-on-biden-administration-to-designate-the-taliban-as|work=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]| date=15 September 2021}}</ref>

Former: * {{KAZ}} <small>(2005–2023)</small><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-taliban-afghanistan-terrorist-groups/32752347.html|title=Kazakhstan To Remove Taliban From List Of Terrorist Groups|newspaper=Radiofreeeurope/Radioliberty |date=29 December 2023|access-date=30 December 2023}}</ref> * {{flag|Kyrgyzstan}} <small>(2006–2024)</small><ref name="kg-list">{{cite web|url=https://24.kg/english/48835_List_of_terrorist_and_extremist_organizations_banned_in_Kyrgyzstan_/|title=List of terrorist and extremist organizations banned in Kyrgyzstan|website=24.kg|access-date=3 March 2020|date=5 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/kyrgyzstan-afghanistan-taliban-terrorist-list/33109802.html|title=Kyrgyzstan Takes Taliban Off Of Its Terrorist List|newspaper=Radiofreeeurope/Radioliberty |date=6 September 2024|access-date=7 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=7 September 2024 |title=Kyrgyzstan follows regional trend, takes Taliban off terrorist list |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/kyrgyzstan-follows-regional-trend-takes-taliban-off-terrorist-list/7775060.html |access-date=11 September 2024 |website=Voice of America |language=en}}</ref> * {{flag|Russia}} <small>(2003–2025)</small><ref name="ru">{{cite web|url=http://nac.gov.ru/page/4570.html|script-title=ru:Единый федеральный список организаций, признанных террористическими Верховным Судом Российской Федерации|trans-title=Single federal list of organizations recognized as terrorist by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation|work=Russian Federation National Anti-Terrorism Committee|access-date=20 April 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502021516/http://nac.gov.ru/page/4570.html|archive-date=2 May 2014}}</ref><ref name="apnews.com"/>

=== United Nations and NGOs === Despite the aid of United Nations (UN) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) given (see [[#Afghanistan during Taliban rule|§ Afghanistan during Taliban rule]]), the Taliban's attitude in 1996–2001 toward the UN and NGOs was often one of suspicion. The UN did not recognise the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, most foreign donors and aid workers were non-Muslims, and the Taliban vented fundamental objections to the sort of 'help' the UN offered. As the Taliban's Attorney General Maulvi Jalil-ullah Maulvizada put it in 1997:

{{blockquote|Let us state what sort of education the UN wants. This is a big infidel policy which gives such obscene freedom to women which would lead to [[adultery]] and herald the destruction of Islam. In any Islamic country where adultery becomes common, that country is destroyed and enters the domination of the infidels because their men become like women and women cannot defend themselves. Anyone who talks to us should do so within Islam's framework. The Holy Koran cannot adjust itself to other people's requirements, people should adjust themselves to the requirements of the Holy Koran.<ref>Maulvi Jalil-ullah Maulvizada, June 1997 interview with Ahmed Rashid; {{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|pp=111–112}}.</ref>}}

In July 1998, the Taliban closed "all NGO offices" by force after those organisations refused to move to a bombed-out former [[Institute of technology|Polytechnic]] College as ordered.<ref name="bmj">[http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/317/7155/369/a Aid agencies pull out of Kabul] The building had neither electricity or running water.</ref> One month later the UN offices were also shut down.<ref name="rashid,71">{{Harvnb|Rashid|2000|pp=71–72}}.</ref>

Around 2000, the UN drew up sanctions against officials and leaders of Taliban, because of their harbouring Osama bin Laden. Several of the Taliban leaders have subsequently been killed.<ref name=telegraphJan2010 />

In 2009, [[Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom|British Foreign Secretary]] [[Ed Miliband]] and US Secretary [[Hillary Clinton]] called for talks with 'regular Taliban fighters' while bypassing their top leaders who supposedly were 'committed to global jihad'. [[Kai Eide]], the top UN official in Afghanistan, called for talks with Taliban at the highest level, suggesting Mullah Omar{{snd}}even though Omar dismissed such overtures as long as foreign troops were in Afghanistan.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 August 2009 |title=UN official calls for talks with taliban leaders |url=http://sify.com/news/un-official-calls-for-talks-with-taliban-leaders-news-international-jicuarhgaeb.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509061527/http://www.sify.com/news/un-official-calls-for-talks-with-taliban-leaders-news-international-jicuarhgaeb.html |archive-date=9 May 2013 |access-date=20 September 2017 |website=[[Sify]]}}</ref>

In 2010, the UN lifted sanctions on the Taliban, and requested that Taliban leaders and others be removed from terrorism watch lists. In 2010 the US and Europe announced support for President Karzai's latest attempt to negotiate peace with the Taliban.<ref name="telegraphJan2010">{{Cite news |last=Farmer |first=Ben |date=25 January 2010 |title=UN: lift sanctions on Taliban to build peace in Afghanistan |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7067537/UN-lift-sanctions-on-Taliban-to-build-peace-in-Afghanistan.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7067537/UN-lift-sanctions-on-Taliban-to-build-peace-in-Afghanistan.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=9 April 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=25 January 2010 |title=UN Reduce Taliban names on terror list |work=United Press International |url=http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/01/25/UN-Reduce-Taliban-names-on-terror-list/UPI-69591264400185/ |access-date=27 August 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=26 January 2010 |title=Asia News |url=http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/01/2010125185642602982.html |access-date=27 August 2010 |website=Al Jazeera}}</ref>

=== Designated terrorist organizations === Many designated terror groups have pledged their allegiance<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.afintl.com/en/202410090797|title=Many Jihadi Groups In Asia & Africa Pledge Allegiance To Taliban Leader, Group Sources|date=9 October 2024 |work=Afghanistan International}}</ref> to the new Taliban government, these groups include: [[Al-Qaeda]], [[al-Shabaab (militant group)|al Shabaab]], [[Boko Haram]], [[Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin]] and [[Turkistan Islamic Party]], [[Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan]], [[Harkat-ul-Mujahideen]].

According to some reports, [[Jaish-e-Mohammad]] still active in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. But [[Lashkar-e-Taiba]], which have allegedly close ties to Pakistan's intelligence agency, have allied with IS-KP and ended their allegiance to Mullah Hibatullah.

The [[Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan]] both distanced themself from the Taliban and ended their allegiance after the Taliban's Zabul operation against it in 2014. However, [[Uyghurs|Uyghur]]'s [[East Turkestan Independence Movement]] armed group (TIP) indicate that still have good relations with the Taliban.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2019/03/turkistan-islamic-party-head-decries-chinese-occupation.php|title=Turkistan Islamic Party head decries Chinese occupation|date=18 March 2018 |work=The Long War Journal}}</ref>

==In popular media== The Taliban were portrayed in [[Khaled Hosseini]]'s popular 2003 novel ''[[The Kite Runner]]''<ref>{{Cite web |date=31 May 2007 |title=Khaled Hosseini: The Kite Runner – booklit |url=https://www.booklit.com/blog/2007/05/31/khaled-hosseini-the-kite-runner/ |access-date=9 January 2023}}</ref> and its 2007 [[The Kite Runner (film)|film adaption]]. The Taliban have also been portrayed in American film, most notably in ''[[Lone Survivor]]'' (2013) which is based on a real-life story.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} [[Hindi cinema]] have also portrayed the Taliban in ''[[Kabul Express]]'' (2006),<ref>{{Cite news |first=Dominic |last=Ferrao |title=Kabul Express |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bollywood/kabul-express/articleshow/821444.cms |access-date=9 January 2023 |website=The Times of India |date=15 December 2006}}</ref> and ''[[Escape from Taliban]]'' (2003) which is based on a real-life novel ''A Kabuliwala's Bengali Wife'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC – Coventry and Warwickshire Films – Escape from Taliban |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/films/reviews/a_f/escape-from-taliban.shtml |access-date=9 January 2023 |website=BBC}}</ref> whose author [[Sushmita Banerjee]] was shot dead by the Taliban in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 August 2021 |title=Real-Life Story Of Sushmita Banerjee Who Inspired Manisha Koirala's Film 'Escape From Taliban' |url=https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/celebs/real-life-story-of-sushmita-banerjee-who-inspired-manisha-koiralas-film-escape-from-taliban-547398.html |access-date=9 January 2023 |website=IndiaTimes |archive-date=9 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230109195001/https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/celebs/real-life-story-of-sushmita-banerjee-who-inspired-manisha-koiralas-film-escape-from-taliban-547398.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Arrest of Barbie and Peter Reynolds]] * [[Crime in Afghanistan]] * [[2025 hunger crisis in Afghanistan]]

== Notes == {{Notelist}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

== Sources == {{refbegin}} * {{cite book|last=Matinuddin |first=Kamal |title=The Taliban Phenomenon: Afghanistan 1994–1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BIyVMkjat2MC |year=1999 |place=Karachi |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0-19-579274-2 |author-link=Kamal Matinuddin }} * {{cite book|last=Rashid |first=Ahmed |author-link=Ahmed Rashid |title=Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia |title-link=Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia |date=2000 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=0-300-08902-3}} {{refend}}

== Further reading == {{refbegin|30em}} * {{cite book |last=Griffiths |first=John C. |title=Afghanistan: A History of Conflict |year=2001 |place=London |publisher=[[Carlton Books]] |isbn=978-1-84222-597-4}} * {{cite book |last=Hillenbrand |first=Carole |title=Islam: A New Historical Introduction |year=2015 |place=London |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] |isbn=978-0-500-11027-0 |author-link=Carole Hillenbrand}} * {{Citation |last1=Jackson |first1=Ashley |title=Insurgent Bureaucracy: How the Taliban Makes Policy |date=November 2019 |url=https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/pw_153-insurgent_bureaucracy_how_the_taliban_makes_policy.pdf |work=Peaceworks |volume=153 |pages=C1-44 |place=Washington, D.C. |publisher=[[United States Institute of Peace]] |isbn=978-1-60127-789-3 |access-date=26 March 2020 |last2=Amiri |first2=Rahmatullah |archive-date=17 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817172337/https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2019-11/pw_153-insurgent_bureaucracy_how_the_taliban_makes_policy.pdf |url-status=dead}} * {{Citation |last=Moj |first=Muhammad |title=The Deoband Madrassah Movement: Countercultural Trends and Tendencies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mbm2BgAAQBAJ |year=2015 |publisher=Anthem Press |isbn=978-1-78308-389-3}} * [https://www.chandra99.com.np/2022/08/one-year-of-taliban-in-afghanistan.html One Year of Taliban Rule Over Afghanistan] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20141029205631/http://www.icct.nl/publications/icct-papers/afghan-women-and-the-taliban-an-exploratory-assessment "Afghan Women and the Taliban: An Exploratory Assessment" (International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague 2014)] * {{cite book |last=Rashid |first=Ahmed |author-link=Ahmed Rashid |date=2022 |title=Taliban: The Power of Militant Islam in Afghanistan and Beyond |edition=3rd |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-26682-5}} * {{cite book |last=Wright |first=Lawrence |title=The looming tower : Al-Qaeda and the road to 9/11 |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-375-41486-2 |publisher=Knopf |publication-place=New York}} {{refend}}

== External links == {{Sister project links|auto=1|d=1}} * {{URL|http://alemarahenglish.af/|Official website}} * {{Aljazeera topic|organisation/taliban}} * {{Guardian topic}} * {{New York Times topic|organizations/t/taliban}}

{{Taliban}} {{Islamism}} {{Pashtun}} {{US War on Terror}} {{Authority control}}

[[Category:Taliban| ]] [[Category:1994 establishments in Afghanistan]] [[Category:Al-Qaeda allied groups]] [[Category:Anti-anarchism]] [[Category:Anti-Buddhism]] [[Category:Anti-Christian sentiment in Afghanistan]] [[Category:Anti-communism in Afghanistan]] [[Category:Anti-communist organizations]] [[Category:Anti-Hindu sentiment]] [[Category:Anti-intellectualism]] [[Category:Anti–Islamic State factions]] [[Category:Anti-Israeli sentiment in Afghanistan]] [[Category:Antisemitism in Asia]] [[Category:Anti-Sikh sentiment]] [[Category:Anti-Zoroastrianism]] [[Category:Deobandi jihadist organizations]] [[Category:Deobandi organisations]] [[Category:Far-right politics in Afghanistan]] [[Category:Far-right politics and Islam]] [[Category:Government of Afghanistan]] [[Category:Islam-related controversies]] [[Category:Islamic nationalism]] [[Category:Jihadist groups in Afghanistan]] [[Category:Jihadist groups in Pakistan]] [[Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by Canada]] [[Category:Organisations designated as terrorist by New Zealand]] [[Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by Tajikistan]] [[Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by Turkey]] [[Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by the United Arab Emirates]] [[Category:Organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights in Asia]] [[Category:Pashtun nationalism]] [[Category:Sexism in Afghanistan]] [[Category:Sunni Islamist groups]] [[Category:Supraorganizations]] [[Category:Totalitarianism]] [[Category:Theocracies]] [[Category:Violence against LGBTQ people in Asia]] [[Category:Sanctioned militant groups]] [[Category:Isolationism]]