THE TALIBAN

CREATION The Taliban movement was created in

1994 by a senior mullah (Islamic priest), Mohammed Omar, in the southern Afghanistan city of Kandahar.

The name Taliban means “student”.

RISE TO POWER The Taliban movement emerged out of the

chaos of the Afghan-Soviet War (1979-1989) and subsequent civil war in Afghanistan.

Taliban promoted itself as a new force for peace and unity, and many war-weary Afghan people, supported the Taliban in hopes of respite from years of war.

They took control in 1996.

Soviet tanks fleeing Afghanistan.

TALIBAN REGIME Their basic premise was to enforce a purist

way of life based on their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. They immediately created the Ministry for Ordering What Is Right and Forbidding What Is Wrong to impose and enforce their rules of conduct.

Mohammed Omar led the Taliban as Amir-ul-Momineen (Commander of the Faithful).

TALIBAN EDICTS BANNED BY THE TALIBAN: Clapping Kite flying Squeaky shoes Music and dancing Movie theatres Alcohol Public works of art that depicted living

beings

(Kite fighting)

TALIBAN EDICTS Men were ordered to grow full, untrimmed

beards and were rounded up and beaten with sticks in an effort to force prayer in the mosques.

WOMEN The Taliban strongly enforced the ancient

custom of purdah, the veiling and seclusion of women from men.

Women were ordered to cover themselves from head to toe in burkas .

WOMEN Girls’ schools were closed, and women

were forbidden to work outside their homes.

Women were not allowed to be escorted by men not related to them.

WOMEN " We do not need women to work. What 

   positive roles can they play in the   society?   What is the impact of their roles? We do   not need women. They should stay in   their houses" (Mullah Manon Niazi. Taliban leader and appointed  Governor of Mazar-e Sharif )

TALIBAN PUNISHMENT The Taliban allowed public beatings and

stonings, sometimes fatal, of women who violated the dress code or were escorted by men not related to them.

TALIBAN PUNISHMENT They made murder, adultery, and drug

dealing punishable by death, and theft punishable by amputation of the hand.

TALIBAN PUNISHMENT

Justice Taliban style: The father of a Pakistani murder victim shoots the alleged Afghan murderer, Mohammadullah, with the blessings of the Taliban authorities in Khost, Paktia Province, Afghanistan. (summer 1996)

COLLAPSE OF THE REGIME The Taliban regime provided safe harbor for

Osama bin Laden, a militant Islamic leader who was identified by the United States as the mastermind of the terrorist attacks against U.S. landmarks in the United States on September 11, 2001.

COLLAPSE OF THE REGIME The Taliban lost its hold on power in

November, 2001 when the Northern Alliance, aided by U.S.-led bombardments, captured Kābul and other key cities.