Full Answer
What is the literal meaning of "Taliban"?
The Taliban ( / ˈtælɪbæn, ˈtɑːlɪbɑːn /; Pashto: طالبان, romanized: ṭālibān, lit. 'students' or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by the name of its state, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi - Pashtun Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, and jihadist political movement in Afghanistan.
How would you describe the Taliban?
The Taliban—from the Arabic word for "student," Talib —are fundamentalist Sunni Muslims, mostly from Afghanistan’s Pashtun tribes. The Taliban dominates large swaths of Afghanistan and a large part of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas, semi-autonomous tribal lands along the Afghan-Pakistan border that serve as training grounds for terrorists.
What does the name Taliban mean?
The word Taliban means ‘students’ or ‘seekers’ in Pashto, one of the two official languages of Afghanistan.
What do you know about the Taliban?
The Taliban — or "students" in English — are extremist Islamist militants who want to impose their strict interpretation of religious law on Afghanistan. The group has its origins in the US-backed mujahedin, fundamentalist Islamic guerilla fighters, who fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1970s and 1980s.
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What is the Taliban simple definition?
The Taliban is a brutal, fundamentalist religious group that held power over most of Afghanistan during the late 1990s. The word Taliban comes from tālib, "student" in Arabic, as the group was started by Pakistani religious school students in the mid-1990s.
What does it mean to be in the Taliban?
The Taliban are a predominantly Pashtun, Islamic fundamentalist group that returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 after waging a twenty-year insurgency. Jacob Ware. Elections, Violence, and the Future of American Democracy.
What is Taliban means in Afghanistan?
The movement's founding nucleus—the word “Taliban” is Pashto for “students”—was composed of peasant farmers and men studying Islam in Afghan and Pakistani madrasas, or religious schools. The Taliban found a foothold and consolidated their strength in southern Afghanistan.
What do the Taliban believe?
The Taliban faced significant resistance, especially after it asserted its own interpretation of law and order. It combined a strict religious ideology—a mixture of Deobandi traditionalism and Wahhābī puritanism—with a conservative Pashtun social code (Pashtunwali) to create a brutally repressive regime.
Which countries support Taliban?
Only three countries – Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government in Kabul. The group, whose name means "seekers of religious knowledge," sprang up from ultra-conservative religious schools in refugee camps in Pakistan.
What is another word for Taliban?
What is another word for Taliban?TalebanAfghan TalibanTehrik-i-Taliban PakistanAnti-Coalition Militia
Why did Russia invade Afghanistan?
With fears rising that Amin was planning to switch sides to the United States, the Soviet government, under leader Leonid Brezhnev, decided to deploy the 40th Army across the border on 24 December 1979.
What does the text on the Taliban flag mean?
The inscription, in fact, is the same one that featured on the previous black-red-green flag, albeit displayed more prominently: 'La ilah illallah, Muhammadur rasoul Allah', which translates to “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”.
What is the deal between US and Taliban?
The U.S-Taliban agreement paves the way for intra-Afghan negotiations on a political settlement and a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan reaffirms its readiness to participate in such negotiations and its readiness to conclude a ceasefire with the Taliban.
What is another word for Taliban?
What is another word for Taliban?TalebanAfghan TalibanTehrik-i-Taliban PakistanAnti-Coalition Militia
What does the text on the Taliban flag mean?
The inscription, in fact, is the same one that featured on the previous black-red-green flag, albeit displayed more prominently: 'La ilah illallah, Muhammadur rasoul Allah', which translates to “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”.
Are Taliban and Isis the same?
All ideological groups draw a border between themselves and others. The Taliban and ISIS are different in this regard. The ISIS sphere is very limited and only includes its own members. All other groups, including the Taliban and al-Qaeda are aliens and, if necess- ary, may be killed.
What does the word "taliban" mean?
The word Taliban is Pashto, طالبان ṭālibān, meaning "students", the plural of ṭālib. This is a loanword from Arabic طالب ṭālib, using the Persian plural ending -ān ان. In Arabic طالبان ṭālibān means not "students" but "two students", as it is a dual form, the Arabic plural being طلاب ṭullāb —occasionally causing some confusion to Arabic speakers.
What does the Taliban mean in Pakistan?
Additionally in Pakistan the word Talibans is often used when referring to more than one Taliban member. Within Afghanistan, the Taliban is often referred to in Dari as گروه طالبان Goroh-e Taleban, meaning "Taliban group". As per Dari/Persian grammar, there is no "The" prefix.
How many massacres did the Taliban commit?
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".
Why did Qatar allow the Taliban to establish a diplomatic and political office?
This was done in order to facilitate peace negotiations and with the support of other countries.
Why did the Taliban kill the medical workers?
Taliban between 2008 and 2012 several times claimed to have assassinated Western and Afghani medical or aid workers in Afghanistan, either for fear of the vaccination of children against polio, or for suspicion that the 'medical workers' were in truth spies, or for suspecting them to be proselytising Christianity.
Why were the Taliban so popular?
Militias controlling the different areas often surrendered without a fight. Omar's commanders were a mixture of former small-unit military commanders and madrassa teachers. At these stages, the Taliban were popular because they stamped out corruption, curbed lawlessness, and made the roads and area safe.
How did the Soviet invasion affect the Taliban?
The author Ahmed Rashid suggests that the devastation and hardship of the Soviet invasion and the following period influenced Taliban ideology. It is said that the Taliban did not include scholars learned in Islamic law and history. The refugee students, brought up in a totally male society, not only had no education in mathematics, science, history or geography, but also had no traditional skills of farming, herding, or handicraft -making, nor even knowledge of their tribal and clan lineages. In such an environment, war meant employment, peace meant unemployment. Dominating women simply affirmed manhood. For their leadership, rigid fundamentalism was a matter not only of principle, but also of 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."
What were the Taliban accused of?
They were accused of various human rights and cultural abuses. One notorious example was in 2001, when the Taliban went ahead with the destruction of the famous Bamiyan Buddha statues in central Afghanistan, despite international outrage. image copyright. Getty Images.
When did the Taliban rise to power?
Rise to power. The Taliban, or "students" in the Pashto language, emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
What punishments did the Taliban use?
But the Taliban also introduced or supported punishments in line with their strict interpretation of Sharia law - such as public executions of convicted murderers and adulterers, and amputations for those found guilty of theft. Men were required to grow beards and women had to wear the all-covering burka.
What was the promise made by the Taliban?
The promise made by the Taliban - in Pashtun areas straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan - was to restore peace and security and enforce their own austere version of Sharia, or Islamic law, once in power. From south-western Afghanistan, the Taliban quickly extended their influence. In September 1995 they captured the province of Herat, ...
When did the Taliban collapse?
On October 7, 2001, a US-led military coalition launched attacks in Afghanistan, and by the first week of December the Taliban regime had collapsed. The group's then-leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, and other senior figures, including Bin Laden, evaded capture despite one of the largest manhunts in the world.
When did the Taliban leave Afghanistan?
The Taliban were removed from power in Afghanistan by US-led forces in 2001, but the group has gradually regained strength since and is seizing territory again. As the US prepares to complete its withdrawal by 11 September, after two decades of war, the Taliban are overrunning Afghan military outposts, town and villages ...
Who is Hibatullah Akhundzada?
Hibatullah Akhundzada is a religious scholar and he is former head of the Taliban courts. Having outlasted a superpower through two decades of war, the Taliban began seizing vast swathes of territory, threatening to once again topple a government in Kabul in the wake of a foreign power withdrawing.
What is the Taliban?
Introduction. The Taliban is a religious and political group that came to power in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. Taliban means “students” in Pashto (an official language of Afghanistan). When the group formed, most of its members were former students of Islamic religious schools. The Taliban is known for enforcing strict Islamic law ...
When did the Taliban take over Kandahar?
The communist regime collapsed in 1992, and several groups then fought for power in the country. The Taliban was one of those groups. In 1994 the Taliban took over the southern province of Kandahar.
Did the Taliban rule Afghanistan?
Most world governments did not recognize the Taliban as the ruling regime of Afghanistan. They largely disapproved of the Taliban’s interpretation of Shariʿah, or Islamic law. These laws did not allow girls and women to go to school or work, and the punishments for crimes were very severe. The Taliban also allowed Afghanistan to be a safe place ...
What is the Taliban?
Follow Us: The Taliban is an ultra-conservative religious and political militant organization that attempts to enforce Sharia law and Islamic government throughout the Middle East and in other lands. The group is known to excommunicate or kill those who do not follow their radical interpretation of Islamic beliefs.
What is the Taliban's ideology?
The group’s ideological foundation revolves around the strict interpretation and enforcement of Sharia Law, which does not honor politics or political parties. The Taliban believes that the world is divided into infidels and believers or followers of the Islamic faith.
What Is the Taliban’s Recent Activity?
In August 2021, the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan after the United States and the United Kingdom withdrew their military forces. Ashraf Ghani, the former president of Afghanistan, was forced to flee the country as Taliban fighters launched successive assaults on such as Kabul and Kandahar. The Afghan army also lies in shambles, with some Afghani soldiers fleeing the country by stowing aboard an American supply aircraft. The Taliban have pledged to respect women’s rights, but have also executed a woman for not wearing a burka that very day. Haibatullah Akhundzada is the current leader of the Taliban and the third Supreme Commander of the organization.
What are the punishments of the Taliban?
The Taliban supports and implements severe Islamic punishments, including public executions of convicted adulterers and murders and amputations of those convicted of theft. Under Taliban rule, men are required to grow beards and women are forced to wear burkas to refrain from showing any skin.
Is the Taliban a dictatorship?
The Taliban is a religious dictatorship. Those under Taliban rule are not free to practice their own religion, nor can they criticize the regime’s governing policies. The Taliban applies a severe interpretation of Islam and the Koran; the group believes that Islamic law must be strictly followed. The group’s ideological foundation revolves ...
What was the ideology of the Taliban?
The ideology followed by Taliban was a combination of Sharia Law and Pashtun tribal codes, sharing some concepts of jihad followed by the Al- Qaeda group . They followed a very strict code of conduct, banning TV and videos and forced men and women to follow the Taliban dress code and the Taliban way of life.
Why did the Taliban start?
The beginning of Taliban is reported have been initiated as a reaction against the Mujahedeen warlords, and also sponsored by “Afghanistan Transit Trade” to clear the Southern road across Afghanistan. Some also suggested that Taliban also received support from the CIA and the ISI (Pakistan's intelligence agency) in order to fight against the Soviets. From 1994 to 1996 Taliban took control of 34 provinces. Consequently, Taliban imposed Sharia law in Afghanistan and with the help of religious leaders in Pakistan consolidated more power and imposed its rules in bordering areas of Pakistan also.
What is the Qutbism of Al-Qaeda?
Some suggest that the writings of Sayyad Qutb or qutbism have greatly influenced the senior leaders of Al-Qaeda. According to qutbism, Islam is a way of life, and this ideology believes in the concept of offensive jihad, which is armed warfare to advance Islam. The ideology followed by Taliban was a combination of Sharia Law ...
What is the difference between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda?
While there may be some overlap in these groups, they are both different. Al-Qaeda (also spelled Al-Qaida) is an Islamist group founded between 1988 and 1990 by Osama Bin Laden and Mohammed Atef. The Taliban (also spelled Taleban) is a Sunni Islamic group founded by Mullah Mohammed Omar, which ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001.
What law did the Taliban enforce in Afghanistan?
After capturing Kabul in 1996, the Taliban imposed Sharia law in Afghanistan banning video films, dancing, trimming of beards by men and also forced women to dress the Taliban way and wear burqas. Harsh punishments were imposed on thieves and murderers by “religious police”.
Where did the Taliban live?
The Taliban operated in Afghanistan and Pakistan and its members comprised different Pashtun ethnic tribes, and volunteers from other bordering Islamic countries. The Taliban also fights with other religious extremists in Pakistan.
When did the Taliban overthrow the Taliban?
The Taliban (Pashto: ṭālibān, meaning "students"), is a Sunni Islamist political movement that governed Afghanistan from 1996 until they were overthrown in late 2001 during Operation Enduring Freedom.
What is the Taliban?
The Taliban are Sunni Muslims and adherents to the Salafist doctrine, which looks back to the early years of Islam to understand how Muslims today should practice their faith. They reject any kind of religious innovation with one practical outworking of that being the implementation of Sharia (Islamic law).
Which two countries are the leaders of the two branches of Islam?
From a national perspective, Saudi Arabia and Iran are the leading powers of the two branches of Islam, with the heart of Sunni Islam being Saudi Arabia , the birthplace of Islam, and Iran being home to the Shiites.
How does Qureshi describe the great divide in Islam?
Qureshi describes how this causes the great divide in Islam: “Through selective quotation, Muhammad becomes the picture-perfect prophet. ... If a Western Muslim wants to paint a peaceful portrait of Muhammad, all they have to do is quote peaceful hadith and verses of the Quran to the exclusion of the violent ones. If an Islamic extremist wants to mobilize his followers to acts of terrorism, he will quote the violent references, to the exclusion of the peaceful ones.”
Is the Taliban's Jesus a fabrication?
Clearly, the Taliban’s Islamic Jesus is a fabrication and what the Apostle Paul calls “another Jesus” (2 Cor. 11:4).
Is Islam a religion?
Always remember that Islam, especially to groups like the Taliban, is more than a personal religion: it dictates the social and political culture as well. Of the three different Salafist categories (the quietists, activists and jihadists) the Taliban fall squarely into the third.
Overview
The Taliban , which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and pro-Pashtun political movement in Afghanistan. It ruled approximately three-quarters of the country from 1996 to 2001, before being overthrown following the United States invasion. It recaptured Kabul on 15 August 2021 after years of
Etymology
The word Taliban is Pashto, طالبان (ṭālibān), meaning 'students', the plural of ṭālib. This is a loanword from Arabic طالب (ṭālib), using the Pashto plural ending -ān ان. (In Arabic طالبان (ṭālibān) means not 'students' but rather 'two students', as it is a dual form, the Arabic plural being طلاب (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 n…
Background
After the Soviet Union 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.
History
The Taliban are a movement of religious students (talib) from the Pashtun areas of eastern and southern Afghanistan who were educated in traditional Islamic schools. There were also Tajik and Uzbek students, demarking them from the more ethnic-centric mujahideen groups "which played a key role in the Taliban's rapid growth and success."
Ideology and aims
The Taliban's ideology has been described as combining an "innovative" form of Sharia Islamic law which is based on Deobandi fundamentalism and militant Islamism, combined with Pashtun social and cultural norms which are known as Pashtunwali, because most Taliban are Pashtun tribesmen.
The Taliban's ideology has been described as an "innovative form of sharia com…
Condemned practices
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. The Taliban and their allies committed massacres against Afghan civilians, denied UN food supplie…
Leadership and organization
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 br…
Economic activities
The Kabul money markets responded positively during the first weeks of the Taliban occupation (1996). But the 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 w…