The Taliban (Taleban) was formed in September 1994 in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar.It was formed by a group of graduates of Pakistani Islamic colleges (madrassas) on the border with Afghanistan, run by the fundamentalist Jamiat-e-Ulema and is translated as "The Seekers". The members of the Taleban Islamic Movement of Afghanistan (TIMA) are mostly Pashtuns from Kandahar in Southern Afghanistan and are led by Mohammad Omar. The Taleban advocate an ‘Islamic Revolution’ in Afghanistan, proclaiming that the unity of Afghanistan should be re-established in the framework of Sharia (Islamic law) and without the mujahedin. Their soldiers are mostly former veterans of the war against Russia. On 11 September 1996 the Taleban captured Jalalabad, the eastern city bordering Pakistan and on 27 September 1996 they captured Kabul, ejecting the government. They seized former President Najibullah and his brother from a UN compound where they had taken refuge since the fall of his government in April 1992, beat them and then lynched them from lamposts in the city centre. From the beginning of June 1997, the Taleban effectively controlled two-thirds of the country.

Mullah Omar

The Taleban have introduced a strict interpretation of Sharia, enforcement of which is administered by the "Department for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice." In Kabul Taleban soldiers have searched homes for evidence of cooperation with the former authorities or for violations of Taleban religious-based decrees, including depictions of living things (photographs, stuffed toys, etc.) Individuals were beaten on the streets by the Taleban militia for what were deemed infractions of Taliban rules concerning dress, hair length, and facial hair, as well as for restriction on women being in the company of men. The Taleban demand that women wear strict Islamic garb in public, and Taleban gender restrictions continue to interfere with the delivery of humanitarian and medical assistance to women and girls. According to regulations, a man who has cut or shaved his beard may be imprisoned until the beard grows back. Beards must stick out further than a fist clamped at the base of the chin would.

The country was partitioned between areas controlled by Pashtun and non-Pashtun forces, as the Taleban now controlled all the predominantly Pashtun areas of the country (as well as Herat and Kabul), while non-Pashtun organizations controlled the areas bordering on the Central Asian republics whose populations are ethnically non-Pashtun, such as Uzbeks and Tajiks. Rebuilding continues in Herat, Kandahar, and Ghazni, areas which are under firm Taliban control.

In October 1997 the Taliban changed the name of the country to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, with Mullah Omar, who had previously assumed the religious title of Emir of the Faithful, as head of state. There is a six-member ruling council in Kabul but ultimate authority for Taliban rule rested in the Taliban's inner Shura (Council), in the southern city of Kandahar, and in Mullah Omar.

Links on the Taliban and Afghanistan

Afghan-Web.com A series of items and a gallery of pictures of Afghanistan and it's people.

Yahoo Afghanistan News pages Regularly updated pages on the current situation in Afghanistan

Islam.Org.Au Extolling the ideals of Islam under the Taliban.