Ninth Doctor
The Taliban (Pashto: طالبان), alternative spelling Taleban,[5] (ṭālibān, meaning "students" in Pashto) is an Islamist militant and political group that ruled large parts of Afghanistan and its capital, Kabul, as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from September 1996 until October 2001. It gained diplomatic recognition from only three states: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The main leader of the Taliban movement is Mullah Mohammed Omar,[6] and Kandahar is considered the birthplace of the Taliban.[7] While in power, they enforced one of the strictest interpretations of Sharia law ever seen in the Muslim world,[8] and leading Muslims have been highly critical of the Taliban interpretations of Islamic law.[9] The Taliban were condemned internationally for their brutal repression of women. The majority of their leaders were influenced by Deobandi fundamentalism,[10] and many also strictly follow the social and cultural norm called Pashtunwali.[11] The Taliban movement is primarily made up of members belonging to Pashtun tribes, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan.[12] From 1995-2001, the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence[13] and military[14] are widely alleged by the international community to have provided support to the Taliban.[15] Pakistan has been accused by many international officials of continuing to support the Taliban today, but Pakistan claims to have dropped all support for the group since 9/11.[16][17][18] Al Qaeda also supported the Taliban with regiments of imported fighters from Arab countries and Central Asia.[19][20][21] Saudi Arabia provided financial support.[22] The Taliban and their allies committed massacres against Afghan civilians,[23][24][25] denied UN food supplies to 160,000 starving civilians[26] and conducted a policy of scorched earth burning vast areas of fertile land and destroying tens of thousands of homes during their rule from 1996-2001.[27][28] Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee to United Front-controlled territory, Pakistan and Iran.[28] After the attacks of September 11, 2001 the Taliban were overthrown by the Operation Enduring Freedom. Later it regrouped as an insurgency movement to fight the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (established in late 2001) and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).[29] They use terrorism as a specific tactic to further their ideological and political goals.[30][31] According to the United Nations, the Taliban and their allies were responsible for 75% of civilian casualties in 2010 and 80% in 2011.[32][33][34] Today the Taliban operate in Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan. It is believed one of their current major headquarters is near Quetta in Pakistan.[35][36]
