Understanding the Taliban

Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban.

 Understanding the Taliban

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• The story: The Taliban, which means "students" in Pashto language, emerged in 1994 around the city of Kandahar. In August 2021, it took them just over a week to seize control of Afghanistan, 20 years after they were ousted by the American troops.
• War is over: After taking control of the presidential palace in Kabul, they declared on 16th August that the war in Afghanistan was over. President Ashraf Ghani fled to central Asian country of Tajikistan, and western countries were seen scrambling to evacuate their citizens. It was a catastrophic failure of intelligence and policy, and no one expected such a rapid collapse. The Taliban celebrated saying it was a great day for the Afghan people and the mujahideen, as they witnessed the fruits of their efforts and their sacrifices for 20 years.
• Who are the Taliban: The movement's inner workings and leadership have always been largely shrouded in secrecy.

1. Haibatullah Akhundzada - He was appointed as the supreme leader of the Taliban in a power transition after a US drone strike killed his predecessor, Mullah Mansour Akhtar, in 2016. Akhundzada's public profile has somehow been limited to annual messages during Islamic holidays.
2. Mullah Baradar - One of the co-founders, Abdul Ghani Baradar was raised in Kandahar, the birthplace of Taliban. The Soviet invasion in the 1970s turned him into an insurgent. Baradar and cleric Mullah Omar later founded the Taliban in the early 1990s.
3. Mullah Yaqoob - He's the son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar. He heads the powerful military commission, which oversees a vast network of field commanders charged with executing the insurgency's strategic operations.
4. Sirajuddin Haqqani - The son of a commander from the anti-Soviet jihad, Jalaluddin Haqqani, Sirajuddin doubles up as deputy leader of the movement while heading the powerful Haqqani network, a US-designated terror group.

• The rise of Taliban: They emerged in 1994 around the city of Kandahar. They were the main factions fighting a civil war after the Soviets left Afghanistan. They went on the draw members from the "mujahideen" who, with the support of the United States, repelled the Soviets back in the 1980s. Much later, they gained sole control over most of Afghanistan, proclaiming a powerful Islamic Emirate in 1996 and staying firmly in power until 2001.
• Modus operandi: During their 1996-2001 reign in the country, they enforced a hugely unpopular and internationally condemned strict version of sharia law. Women across the country were strictly barred from working or studying; they were confined to their homes unless accompanied by a male guardian outdoors. Public executions and floggings were also a common sight. Western films and books were banned. Cultural artefacts seen as blasphemous were destroyed.
• Global recognition: Only four countries, including neighbour Pakistan, formally recognised the Taliban government when it was in power. Other countries around the world, along with the United Nations, instead recognised a different group holding provinces to the north of Kabul as Afghanistan's government-in-waiting. The US and UN imposed strict sanctions on the Taliban. Even now, most countries are showing no signs of formally recogni the group diplomatically.
• As Afghanistan fell: Signs initially were that President Ashraf Ghani would go for a power sharing arrangement. But instead, he fled the country, and there was no retaliation. Which in effect meant the Taliban were back in charge — coming full circle 20 years after the Americans booted them out — and Ghani did nothing to stop them. The Taliban issued statements about ensuring “the transition process being completed safely and securely, without putting the lives, property and honor of anyone in danger.” The danger is their actions will be quite different.

1. Controlling the customs posts and border crossings (aside from Kabul airport) and with the Afghan military collapsing, the Taliban hold the cards. Russia and China will be comfortable engaging with the group’s leaders.
2. Two decades of painful but hard won progress for women and civil society could vanish.
3. A concern for neighbors is that an exodus of refugees from Afghanistan could include terrorists, and Uyghur separatists. The Taliban might permit groups like al-Qaeda to train and operate from there.

• Joe Biden's problem: Afghanistan presents US President Joe Biden with an unwinnable challenge. Americans wanted their soldiers home after so many years of fighting. And yet the US also says it stands as a defender of human rights. Biden is unlikely to reverse course despite the growing criticism. “I was the fourth president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan — two Republicans, two Democrats,” he says. "I would not, and will not, pass this war onto a fifth."

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