Талибан ( / ˈtælɪbæn , ˈtɑːlɪbɑːn / ; пушту : طَالِبَانْ , романизировано: ṭālibān , букв. « студенты»), который также называет себя по своему государственному названию , Исламский Эмират Афганистан , [ 78 ] [ 79 ] [ a ] — афганское политическое и воинствующее движение с идеологией, включающей элементы пуштунского национализма и движения деобанди исламского фундаментализма . [82] [83] [84] [8] [9] Оно управляло примерно 75% территории Афганистана с 1996 по 2001 год , прежде чем было свергнуто американским вторжением после атак 11 сентября, совершенных союзником Талибана Аль-Каидой . Талибан отвоевал Кабул в августе 2021 года после ухода коалиционных сил , после 20 лет мятежа Талибана , и теперь контролирует всю страну. Правительство Талибана не признано ни одной страной и было осуждено на международном уровне за ограничение прав человека , включая права женщин на работу и образование . [ 85]
Движение Талибан возникло в 1994 году как видная фракция в гражданской войне в Афганистане и в основном состояло из студентов из пуштунских районов восточного и южного Афганистана, которые получили образование в традиционных исламских школах ( мадари ). Под руководством муллы Омара ( р. 1996–2001 ) движение распространилось на большую часть Афганистана, отобрав власть у полевых командиров моджахедов . В 1996 году группа основала Первый исламский эмират Афганистан. Правительству Талибана противостояло ополчение Северного альянса , которое захватило части северо-восточного Афганистана и сохранило международное признание в качестве продолжения Исламского государства Афганистан .
Во время своего правления с 1996 по 2001 год Талибан навязывал строгое толкование шариата , или исламского права, [86] и широко осуждался за массовые убийства афганских мирных жителей, жесткую дискриминацию религиозных и этнических меньшинств, отказ ООН в поставках продовольствия голодающим мирным жителям, разрушение культурных памятников, запрет женщинам посещать школы и большинство рабочих мест, а также запрет на большую часть музыки . [87] Талибан совершил культурный геноцид против афганцев, уничтожив их исторические и культурные тексты, артефакты и скульптуры. [88] Талибан контролировал большую часть страны до вторжения Соединенных Штатов в Афганистан в декабре 2001 года. Многие члены Талибана бежали в соседний Пакистан.
После свержения Талибан начал мятеж, чтобы бороться с поддерживаемой США Исламской Республикой Афганистан и Международными силами содействия безопасности (ISAF) под руководством НАТО в войне в Афганистане . В мае 2002 года изгнанные члены сформировали Совет лидеров, базирующийся в Кветте , Пакистан. Под руководством Хибатуллы Ахундзады в мае 2021 года Талибан начал военное наступление , которое завершилось падением Кабула в августе 2021 года и восстановлением контроля Талибаном. Исламская Республика была распущена, а Исламский Эмират восстановлен. После их возвращения к власти государственный бюджет Афганистана потерял 80% своего финансирования, а продовольственная нехватка стала широко распространенной. [87] Талибан вернул Афганистан ко многим политикам, реализованным при его предыдущем правлении, включая запрет женщинам занимать практически любые должности, требование к женщинам носить с головы до ног покрытия, такие как бурка , запрет женщинам путешествовать без сопровождения мужчин и запрет на любое образование для девочек. [89] [90] [91]
Слово Талибан на пушту, طَالِباَنْ ( ṭālibān ), означает 'студенты', множественное число от ṭālib . Это заимствованное слово из арабского طَالِبْ ( ṭālib ), с использованием пуштунского окончания множественного числа -ān اَنْ . [92] (В арабском языке طَالِبَانْ ( ṭālibān ) означает не «студенты», а скорее «два студента», поскольку это двойственная форма, арабское множественное число — طُلَّابْ ( ṭullāb ) — что иногда вызывает некоторую путаницу у носителей арабского языка.) Став заимствованным словом в английском языке, Taliban , помимо существительного во множественном числе, относящегося к группе, также использовался как существительное в единственном числе, относящееся к отдельному человеку. Например, Джона Уокера Линда в отечественных СМИ называли «американским талибом», а не «американским талибом». В Афганистане все по-другому, где член или сторонник группы называется Талиб (طَالِبْ) или его множественное число Талиб-ха (طَالِبْهَا). В других определениях Талибан означает «искатели». [93]
В английском языке написание Taliban стало преобладать над написанием Taleban . [94] [95] В американском английском используется определенный артикль , группа упоминается как «the Taliban», а не «Taliban». В англоязычных СМИ в Пакистане определенный артикль всегда опускается. [96] Как пакистанские , так и индийские англоязычные СМИ склонны называть группу «Afghan Taliban», [97] [98] таким образом отличая ее от Pakistani Taliban . Кроме того, в Пакистане слово Talibans часто используется при упоминании более чем одного члена Талибана.
В Афганистане Талибан часто называют گرُوهْ طَالِبَانْ ( Goroh-e Taleban ), термин на дари, который означает «группа Талибана». [99] Согласно грамматике дари/персидского языка, префикса «the» нет. Между тем, в пушту обычно используется определитель , и в результате группа обычно упоминается в соответствии с грамматикой пушту: دَ طَالِبَانْ ( Da Taliban ) или دَ طَالِبَانُو ( Da Talibano ).
После того, как Советский Союз вмешался и оккупировал Афганистан в 1979 году, исламские моджахеды начали войну против советских войск. Во время советско-афганской войны почти все первоначальные лидеры Талибана воевали либо за Хезб-и Ислами Халис , либо за Харакат-и Инкилаб-и Ислами фракции моджахедов. [100]
Президент Пакистана Мухаммад Зия-уль-Хак опасался, что Советы также планируют вторгнуться в Белуджистан , Пакистан, поэтому он отправил Ахтара Абдур Рахмана в Саудовскую Аравию, чтобы заручиться поддержкой афганского сопротивления против советских оккупационных сил. Некоторое время спустя ЦРУ США и Главное разведывательное управление Саудовской Аравии (GID) направляли финансирование и оборудование через Пакистанское межведомственное разведывательное управление (ISI) афганским моджахедам. [101] Около 90 000 афганцев, включая муллу Омара, прошли подготовку в пакистанской ISI в 1980-х годах. [101]
В апреле 1992 года, после падения поддерживаемого Советским Союзом режима Мохаммада Наджибуллы , многие афганские политические партии договорились о мире и соглашении о разделе власти, Пешаварском соглашении , которое создало Исламское государство Афганистан и назначило временное правительство на переходный период. Хезб -и Ислами Гульбуддина Хекматияра , Хезб -и Вахдат и Иттихад-и Ислами не участвовали. Государство было парализовано с самого начала из-за соперничающих групп, боровшихся за полную власть над Кабулом и Афганистаном. [102] [ нужен лучший источник ]
Партия Хекматияра «Хезб-и Ислами Гульбуддин» отказалась признать временное правительство и в апреле проникла в Кабул, чтобы захватить власть, тем самым начав гражданскую войну. В мае Хекматияр начал нападения на правительственные войска и Кабул. [103] Хекматияр получил оперативную, финансовую и военную поддержку от пакистанской ISI. [104] С этой помощью силы Хекматияра смогли разрушить половину Кабула. [105] Иран помогал силам «Хезб Вахдат» Абдул-Али Мазари . Саудовская Аравия поддерживала фракцию «Иттихад-и Ислами». [103] [105] [106] Конфликт между этими ополчениями также перерос в войну.
Из-за этого внезапного начала гражданской войны работающие правительственные департаменты, полицейские подразделения или система правосудия и подотчетности для недавно созданного Исламского государства Афганистан не успели сформироваться. Зверства совершались отдельными лицами внутри разных фракций. [107] Перемирия, согласованные представителями недавно назначенного министра обороны Исламского государства Ахмада Шаха Масуда , президента Сибгатуллы Моджаддеди и позднее президента Бурхануддина Раббани (временное правительство) или должностными лицами Международного комитета Красного Креста (МККК), обычно рушились в течение нескольких дней. [103] Сельская местность на севере Афганистана, части которой находились под контролем министра обороны Масуда, оставалась спокойной, и проводилась некоторая реконструкция. Город Герат под властью союзника Исламского государства Исмаила Хана также стал свидетелем относительного спокойствия. [ необходима цитата ] Между тем, южный Афганистан не находился ни под контролем поддерживаемых иностранцами ополченцев, ни под контролем правительства в Кабуле, а управлялся местными лидерами, такими как Гуль Ага Шерзай и их ополченцами.
Движение Талибан зародилось в пуштунском национализме , и его идеологические основы совпадают с более широкими взглядами афганского общества. Корни Талибана лежат в религиозных школах Кандагара и находились под значительным влиянием иностранной поддержки, особенно со стороны Пакистана и Саудовской Аравии, во время советско-афганской войны. Они появились в Афганистане в середине 1990-х годов, захватив Кандагар и расширив свой контроль по всей стране; они оказались втянуты в войну с Северным альянсом . Международная реакция на Талибан была разной: некоторые страны оказывали поддержку, а другие выступали против и не признавали их режим.
Во время своего правления с 1996 по 2001 год Талибан ввел строгие религиозные правила, особенно затронувшие права женщин и культурное наследие. Этот период включал в себя значительные этнические преследования и разрушение Будд Бамиана . После вторжения под руководством США в 2001 году Талибан был отстранен от власти, но перегруппировался и начал мятеж, который продолжался два десятилетия.
Талибы вернулись к власти в 2021 году после вывода войск США . Их усилия по созданию Исламского Эмирата Афганистан продолжаются, в том числе в сфере политики в области образования и международных отношений, включая внутренние и внешние проблемы, с которыми сталкивается режим Талибана.
В середине 2021 года Талибан возглавил крупное наступление в Афганистане во время вывода войск США из страны, что дало им контроль над более чем половиной из 421 округа Афганистана по состоянию на 23 июля 2021 года. [108] [109] К середине августа 2021 года Талибан контролировал все крупные города в Афганистане; после почти полного захвата столицы Кабула Талибан занял Президентский дворец после того, как действующий президент Ашраф Гани бежал из Афганистана в Объединенные Арабские Эмираты. [110] [111] Убежище Гани было подтверждено Министерством иностранных дел и международного сотрудничества ОАЭ 18 августа 2021 года. [112] [113] Оставшиеся афганские силы под руководством Амруллы Салеха , Ахмада Масуда и Бисмиллаха Хана Мохаммади отступили в Панджшер, чтобы продолжить сопротивление. [114] [115] [116]
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Талибан «захватил власть у устоявшегося правительства, поддерживаемого некоторыми из самых оснащенных армий мира»; и как идеологическое повстанческое движение, стремящееся «создать истинно исламское государство», его победу сравнивали с победой Китайской коммунистической революции 1949 года или Иранской революции 1979 года с их «широчайшим» переустройством общества. Однако по состоянию на 2021–2022 годы высшие лидеры Талибана подчеркивали «мягкость» своей революции и то, как они хотели «хороших отношений» с Соединенными Штатами, в беседах с американским журналистом Джоном Ли Андерсоном. [87]
Андерсон отмечает, что война Талибана против любых « идолов », столь энергичная в начале их правления, была прекращена, возможно, из-за смартфонов и Instagram. Один местный наблюдатель (Сайед Хамид Гайлани) утверждает, что Талибан не убил «много» людей после возвращения к власти. Женщин можно увидеть на улице, Забиулла Муджахид (исполняющий обязанности заместителя министра информации и культуры) отметил, что в ряде правительственных министерств все еще работают женщины, и заявил, что девочкам будет разрешено посещать среднюю школу, когда банковские средства будут разморожены, и правительство сможет финансировать «отдельные» помещения и транспорт для них. [87]
Когда его спросили об убийстве шиитов-хазарейцев первым режимом Талибана, Сухейль Шахин, кандидат Талибана на пост посла в ООН, сказал Андерсону: «Шииты-хазарейцы для нас тоже мусульмане. Мы верим, что мы едины, как цветы в саду». [87] В конце 2021 года журналисты из The New York Times, внедренные в отряд Талибана из шести человек, которому было поручено защищать шиитскую святыню Сахи в Кабуле от Исламского государства , отметили, «насколько серьезно эти люди, по-видимому, отнеслись к своему заданию». Командир отряда сказал, что «нам все равно, какой этнической группе мы служим, наша цель — служить афганцам и обеспечивать их безопасность». [117] В ответ на «международную критику» по поводу отсутствия разнообразия этнический хазарейец был назначен заместителем министра здравоохранения, а этнический таджик — заместителем министра торговли. [87]
С другой стороны, Министерство по делам женщин было закрыто, а его здание стало новым домом Министерства по пропаганде добродетели и предотвращению порока . По словам Андерсона, некоторые женщины, все еще работающие в правительстве, «вынуждены отмечаться на работе, а затем идти домой, чтобы создать иллюзию равенства»; а назначение этнических меньшинств было отклонено «советником Талибана» как символическое. [87]
Сообщения были «распространены» о
«Хазарейские фермеры, вытесняемые с земель этническими пуштунами, о набегах на дома активистов и о внесудебных казнях бывших правительственных солдат и агентов разведки». [87]
Согласно отчету Human Rights Watch , опубликованному в ноябре 2021 года, талибы убили или насильственно исчезли более 100 бывших членов афганских сил безопасности за три месяца с момента захвата власти только в четырех провинциях Газни, Гильменд, Кандагар и Кундуз. Согласно отчету, талибы определили цели для ареста и казни с помощью разведывательных операций и доступа к записям о трудоустройстве, которые были оставлены. Бывшие члены сил безопасности также были убиты талибами в течение нескольких дней после регистрации в них для получения письма, гарантирующего их безопасность. [118]
Несмотря на заявления Талибана о том, что ИГИЛ побеждено, ИГ осуществило теракты-смертники в октябре 2021 года в шиитских мечетях в Кундузе и Кандагаре , в результате чего погибло более 115 человек. По состоянию на конец 2021 года в столице Кабуле все еще происходили взрывы «липких бомб» «каждые несколько дней». [87]
Объяснения относительной умеренности нового правительства Талибана и заявления его официальных лиц, такие как – «Мы начали новую страницу. Мы не хотим связываться с прошлым» [87], – включают то, что оно не ожидало, что захватит страну так быстро, и все еще «имеет проблемы, которые нужно решить среди» своих фракций»; [87] что 7 миллиардов долларов афганских государственных средств в банках США были заморожены, и что 80% бюджета предыдущего правительства, которые поступали от «Соединенных Штатов, их партнеров или международных кредиторов», были перекрыты, что привело к серьезному экономическому кризису; по словам странового директора Всемирной продовольственной программы ООН Мэри Эллен Макгроарти, по состоянию на конец 2021 года – начало 2022 года «22,8 миллиона афганцев уже испытывают серьезную нехватку продовольствия, и семь миллионов из них находятся в одном шаге от голода»; и что мировое сообщество «единогласно» попросило Талибан «сформировать инклюзивное правительство, обеспечить права женщин и меньшинств и гарантировать, что Афганистан больше не будет служить стартовой площадкой для глобальных террористических операций», пока не признает правительство Талибана. [119] В разговоре с журналистом Андерсоном высокопоставленные лидеры Талибана подразумевали, что жесткое применение шариата во время их первой эпохи правления в 1990-х годах было необходимо из-за «разврата» и «хаоса», оставшихся от советской оккупации, но что теперь «милосердие и сострадание» стали повесткой дня. [87] Этому противоречили бывшие высокопоставленные члены Министерства по делам женщин, один из которых сказал Андерсону: «Они сделают все, чтобы убедить международное сообщество предоставить им финансирование, но в конечном итоге я буду вынуждена снова носить паранджу. Они просто ждут». [87]
После того, как в 2021 году Талибан вновь пришел к власти, между Талибаном и его соседями, включая Иран и Пакистан , вспыхнули пограничные столкновения, что привело к жертвам с обеих сторон. [120] [121]
В первые месяцы правления Талибана международные журналисты имели некоторый доступ в Афганистан. В феврале 2022 года были задержаны несколько международных журналистов, включая Эндрю Норта . Комитет по защите журналистов описал их задержание как «печальное отражение общего упадка свободы прессы и участившихся нападений на журналистов при правлении Талибана». [122] Журналисты были освобождены через несколько дней. [123] Впоследствии организации по наблюдению за соблюдением прав человека продолжали документировать ряд арестов местных журналистов, а также запрещать доступ международным журналистам. [124]
Небольшой общине сикхов в стране , которые образуют вторую по величине религию Афганистана [125] , а также индуистам , как сообщается, было запрещено праздновать свои праздники с 2023 года правительством Талибана. [126] Несмотря на это, Талибан в более позднем заявлении похвалил общины и заверил, что их частная земля и имущество будут защищены. [127] В апреле 2024 года бывший единственный сикхский член парламента Нарендра Сингх Халса вернулся в Афганистан впервые после распада Республики. [127]
В сентябре 2021 года правительство приказало возобновить работу начальных школ для обоих полов и объявило о планах возобновить работу средних школ для учащихся мужского пола, не взяв на себя обязательств сделать то же самое для учащихся женского пола. [128] В то время как Талибан заявил, что студентки колледжей смогут возобновить обучение в высших учебных заведениях при условии, что они будут отделены от студентов мужского пола (и профессоров, когда это возможно), [129] The Guardian отметила, что «если средние школы не откроются для девочек, обязательства разрешить университетское образование станут бессмысленными после того, как нынешняя когорта студентов закончит учебу». [128] Министр высшего образования Абдул Баки Хаккани заявил, что студентки университетов будут обязаны соблюдать надлежащий хиджаб , но не уточнил, требуется ли для этого закрывать лицо. [129]
Кабульский университет вновь открылся в феврале 2022 года, причем девушки-студентки посещали занятия утром, а юноши — днем. За исключением закрытия музыкального факультета, было сообщено о нескольких изменениях в учебной программе. [130] Девушки-студентки были официально обязаны носить абайю и хиджаб для посещения занятий, хотя некоторые вместо этого носили шаль . Сообщается, что посещаемость в первый день была низкой. [131]
В марте 2022 года Талибан внезапно остановил планы разрешить девочкам возобновить среднее школьное образование, даже если они отделены от мальчиков. [132] В то время The Washington Post сообщила, что помимо студентов университетов, «шестой класс теперь является высшим классом, который могут посещать девочки». Министерство образования Афганистана сослалось на отсутствие приемлемого дизайна женской школьной формы. [133]
20 декабря 2022 года, в нарушение своих предыдущих обещаний, Талибан запретил студенткам посещать высшие учебные заведения с немедленным вступлением в силу. [134] [135] [136] На следующий день, 21 декабря 2022 года, Талибан ввел запрет на любое образование для всех девочек и женщин по всей стране, а также запрет на женский персонал в школах, включая профессии учителей. Преподавание было одной из последних немногих оставшихся профессий, открытых для женщин. [137]
Идеология Талибана была описана как «инновационная форма шариата, объединяющая пуштунские племенные кодексы» [138] или Пуштунвали , с радикальными деобандийскими интерпретациями ислама, одобренными Джамиат Улема-и-Ислам и ее отколовшимися группами. [139] Их идеология была отходом от исламизма антисоветских моджахедов-правителей [ необходимо разъяснение ] и радикальных исламистов [ необходимо разъяснение ], вдохновленных Сайидом Кутбом (Ихваном). [140] Талибан заявил, что их цель — восстановить мир и безопасность в Афганистане, включая вывод западных войск, и обеспечить соблюдение шариата , или исламского закона, после прихода к власти. [141] [142] [143]
По словам журналиста Ахмеда Рашида , по крайней мере в первые годы своего правления талибы приняли деобандийские и исламистские антинационалистические убеждения и выступили против «племенных и феодальных структур», отстранив традиционных племенных или феодальных лидеров от руководящих ролей. [144]
Талибы строго навязывали свою идеологию в крупных городах, таких как Герат, Кабул и Кандагар. Но в сельской местности у Талибана было мало прямого контроля, и в результате они продвигали деревенские джирги , поэтому в сельской местности они не навязывали свою идеологию так же строго, как в городах. [145]
Религиозно-политическая философия Талибана, особенно во время его первого режима с 1996 по 2001 год, была в значительной степени продиктована и находилась под влиянием великого муфтия Рашида Ахмеда Лудхианви и его работ. Однако его действующие политические и религиозные принципы с момента его основания были смоделированы по образцу принципов Абуля А'ла Маудуди и движения Джамаат-и-Ислами . [146]
Талибы, будучи в основном пуштунскими племенами, часто следуют доисламскому культурному племенному кодексу, который сосредоточен на сохранении чести. Пуштунвали сильно влияет на решения в отношении других социальных вопросов. Лучше всего его можно описать как подсознательные социальные ценности и установки, которые поощряют различные качества, такие как храбрость, сохранение чести, гостеприимство ко всем гостям, стремление к мести и справедливости, если кто-то был обижен, и предоставление убежища любому, кто ищет убежища, даже если это враг. Однако не-пуштуны и другие обычно критикуют некоторые из ценностей, такие как пуштунская практика равного разделения наследства между сыновьями, хотя в Коране четко сказано, что женщины должны получать половину доли мужчины. [147] [148]
По словам Али А. Джалали и Лестера Грау, Талибан «получил широкую поддержку от пуштунов по всей стране, которые считали, что движение может восстановить их национальное господство. Даже пуштунские интеллектуалы на Западе, которые расходились с Талибаном по многим вопросам, выразили поддержку движению по чисто этническим мотивам». [149]
Письменные работы, опубликованные Комиссией по культурным вопросам группы, включая «Ислами Адалат» , «Де Муджахид Тура – Де Джихад Шари Мисалай» и «Руководство для моджахедов», изложили суть философии Исламского движения Талибан относительно джихада, шариата, организации и поведения. [150] Режим Талибана интерпретировал законы шариата в соответствии с ханафитской школой исламской юриспруденции и религиозными указами муллы Омара. [86] Талибан, в частности мулла Омар, подчеркивал сны как средство откровения. [151] [152]
Талибан запретил употребление свинины и алкоголя, использование многих видов потребительских технологий, таких как музыка с инструментальным сопровождением , [153] телевидение, [153] киносъемка, [153] и Интернет, а также большинство форм искусства, таких как живопись или фотография, [153] участие в спортивных состязаниях , [154] включая футбол и шахматы ; [154] Развлекательные мероприятия, такие как запуск воздушных змеев и содержание голубей и других домашних животных, также были запрещены, а птицы были убиты в соответствии с правилами Талибана. [154] Кинотеатры были закрыты и переоборудованы в мечети. [154] Празднование западного и иранского Нового года также было запрещено. [155] Фотографирование и демонстрация картин и портретов также были запрещены, потому что Талибан считал их формами идолопоклонства . [154] Это распространялось даже на «закрашивание иллюстраций на упаковках детского мыла в магазинах и закрашивание знаков, указывающих на переходы для скота». [87]
Женщинам было запрещено работать, [156] девочкам было запрещено посещать школы или университеты, [156] они были обязаны соблюдать пурду (физическое разделение полов) и аурат (сокрытие тела одеждой), а также находиться в сопровождении родственников-мужчин за пределами своих домов; те, кто нарушал эти ограничения, наказывались. [156] Мужчинам было запрещено брить бороды, и они также должны были отращивать их и поддерживать их длинными в соответствии с правилами Талибана, и они также должны были носить тюрбаны за пределами своих домов. [157] [158] Молитва была сделана обязательной, и те мужчины, которые не соблюдали религиозный долг после азана, были арестованы. [157] Азартные игры были запрещены, [155] и Талибан наказывал воров, ампутируя им руки или ноги . [154] В 2000 году лидер Талибана мулла Омар официально запретил выращивание опиума и торговлю наркотиками в Афганистане; [159] [160] [161] Талибану удалось почти полностью искоренить большую часть производства опиума (99%) к 2001 году. [160] [161] [162] Во время правления Талибана в Афганистане наркоманы и наркоторговцы подвергались жестоким преследованиям. [159]
В 1999 году мулла Омар издал указ, в котором призвал к защите статуй Будды в Бамиане , двух монументальных статуй стоящих будд VI века , высеченных на склоне скалы в долине Бамиан в регионе Хазараджат в центральном Афганистане. Но в марте 2001 года талибы уничтожили статуи, следуя указу муллы Омара, в котором говорилось: «все статуи вокруг Афганистана должны быть уничтожены». [163]
Яхья Масуд, брат лидера антиталибского движения и сопротивления Ахмада Шаха Масуда , вспоминает следующий инцидент после разрушения статуй Будды в Бамиане:
Это была весна 2001 года. Я был в долине Панджшер в Афганистане вместе с моим братом Ахмадом Шахом Масудом , лидером афганского сопротивления Талибану, и Бисмиллах Ханом, который в настоящее время является министром внутренних дел Афганистана. Один из наших командиров, комендант Момин, хотел, чтобы мы увидели 30 бойцов Талибана, взятых в заложники после перестрелки. Мой брат согласился встретиться с ними. Я помню, что его первый вопрос касался многовековых статуй Будды, которые были взорваны Талибаном в марте того года, незадолго до нашей встречи. Двое бойцов Талибана из Кандагара уверенно ответили, что поклонение чему-либо, кроме ислама, неприемлемо, и поэтому эти статуи должны быть уничтожены. Мой брат посмотрел на них и сказал, на этот раз на пушту: «В этой стране все еще много поклонников солнца. Вы тоже попытаетесь избавиться от солнца и напустить тьму на Землю?» [164]
Афганский обычай бача-бази , форма педерастического сексуального рабства , сексуального насилия над детьми и педофилии , которая традиционно практикуется в различных провинциях Афганистана между пожилыми мужчинами и молодыми подростками «танцующими мальчиками», также был запрещен в течение шестилетнего правления режима Талибана. [165] В период правления Исламского Эмирата Афганистан он карался смертной казнью . [166] [167]
Эта практика оставалась незаконной во время правления Исламской Республики Афганистан, но законы редко применялись против влиятельных преступников, а полиция , как сообщается, была замешана в связанных с этим преступлениях. [168] [169] [170] [171] Во время правления Исламской Республики Афганистан возник спор после того, как появились обвинения в том, что силы правительства США в Афганистане после вторжения в страну намеренно игнорировали бача-бази . [172] Американские военные ответили, заявив, что ответственность за насилие в значительной степени лежит на «местном афганском правительстве». [173] Талибан подверг критике роль США в насилии над афганскими детьми.
В отличие от других исламских фундаменталистских организаций, Талибан не является салафитами . Хотя богатые арабские страны привезли салафитские медресе в Афганистан во время советской войны в 1980-х годах, строгое деобандийское руководство Талибана подавило салафитское движение в Афганистане после того, как оно впервые пришло к власти в 1990-х годах. После вторжения США в 2001 году Талибан и салафиты объединили свои силы, чтобы вести общую войну против сил НАТО, но салафиты были низведены до небольших групп, которые находились под командованием Талибана. [174]
Талибы не склонны обсуждать доктрины с другими мусульманами и «не позволяют даже мусульманским репортерам подвергать сомнению [их] указы или обсуждать толкования Корана » . [175]
После победы Талибана была начата общенациональная кампания против влиятельных салафитских фракций, подозреваемых в прошлых связях с ИГИЛ–Х . Талибан закрыл большинство салафитских мечетей и семинарий в 16 провинциях, включая Нангархар , и задержал священнослужителей, которые , по его словам, поддерживали Исламское государство. [176] [177]
В период первого правления Талибана (1996-2001) Талибан пытался склонить шиитов, особенно хазарейцев , на свою сторону, заключив сделки с рядом шиитских политических деятелей, а также заручившись поддержкой некоторых шиитских религиозных деятелей. [178] Одним из них был Устад Мухаммад Акбари , шиитский политик-хазарейец, который отделился от Исламской партии единства Абдул-Али Мазари , чтобы сформировать Национальную исламскую партию единства , после чего политически объединил себя и свою группу, которая получила поддержку большинства членов Исламской партии единства в хазарейских глубинках , [179] с Талибаном. [180] Еще одной значимой шиитской политической фигурой в администрации первого Исламского Эмирата был Сайед Гардизи, сайед-хазарейец из Гардиза , который был назначен вулусвалом ( губернатором округа) округа Якавланг , будучи единственным шиитом, занимавшим должность губернатора округа в период первого Исламского Эмирата Афганистан. [181]
Однако в то же время некоторые инциденты вызвали недоверие между Талибаном и афганскими шиитами. Наиболее значимой была резня в Мазари-Шарифе в 1998 году , произошедшая в ответ на предательство этнического узбекского военачальника Абдур-Рашида Дустума и последующую резню бойцов Талибана, а также ложные слухи о том, что хазарейцы обезглавили старшего лидера Талибана Мавлави Ихсануллу Ихсана на могиле Абдул-Али Мазари, что привело к резне значительного числа хазарейцев. [182] Командир, ответственный за резню, Абдул-Манан Ниази, позже стал известен своей оппозицией руководству Талибана, сформировав мятежный Высший совет Исламского Эмирата Афганистан в 2015 году, прежде чем был убит, как сообщается, самими Талибаном. [183] [178]
Желание руководства Талибана расширить связи группы с афганскими шиитами сохранилось после американского вторжения в Афганистан и возвращения группы к мятежу. Некоторое время спустя после американского вторжения в Ирак в 2003 году Талибан опубликовал «Послание моджахедам Ирака и Афганистана» муллы Омара, в котором он осудил сектантство, одновременно обращаясь к народам Ирака и Афганистана, заявив: [184]
"It's incumbent upon all Muslims to thwart all the cursed plots of the cunning enemy, and to not give him the opportunity to light the fires of disagreement amongst the Muslims. A major component of American policy is to categorize the Muslims in Iraq with the labels of Shī’ah and Sunnī, and in Afghanistan with the labels of Pashtun, Tājīk, Hazārah and Uzbek, in order to decrease the severity and strength of the popular uprisings and the accompanying armed resistance. […] As such, I request the brothers in Iraq to put behind them the differences that exist in the name of Shī’ah and Sunnī, and to fight in unity against the occupying enemy, for victory is not possible without unity."
Multiple Hazara Shia Taliban commanders took part in the Taliban insurgency, primarily from Bamyan and Daikundi provinces. Among the Qarabaghi tribe of Shia Hazaras, a number of fighters voluntarily joined the Taliban, due to their close relations with the nearby Taliban-supporting Sunni Pashtun population. Additionally, a pro-government Shia Hazara militia from Gizab district of Daikundi province, called Fedayi, defected and pledged allegiance to the Taliban a few years prior to 2016, with a reported size of 50 fighters.[185]
In reaction to the 2011 Afghanistan Ashura bombings, which targeted Shia Afghans in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif, the Taliban published "Sectarian Killings; A Dangerous Enemy Conspiracy" by Taliban official Abdul-Qahhar Balkhi, in which he stated:[186]
"In Afghanistan, Sunnis and Shias have co-existed for centuries. They live communal lives and participate in their mutual festivities. And for centuries they have fought shoulder to shoulder against foreign invaders. [...] The majority of Shia populations in Bamyan, Daikundi and Hazarajat [have] actively aided and continue to support the Mujahideen against the foreigners and their puppets. The foreign occupiers seek to ignite the flames of communal hatred and violence between Sunnis and Shias in Afghanistan. [...] The followers of Islam will only ever reclaim their rightful place in this world if they forgo their petty differences and unite as a single egalitarian body."
In recent years, the Taliban have once again attempted to court Shiites, appointing a Shia cleric as a regional governor and recruiting Hazaras to fight against ISIS–K, in order to distance themselves from their past reputation and improve their relations with the Shia-led Government of Iran.[187] After the 2021 Taliban offensive, which led to the restoration of the Islamic Emirate, senior Taliban officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi and Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, have stressed the importance of unity between Shiites and Sunnis in Afghanistan and promised to protect the Shiite community.[188] The Ministry of Virtue and Vice have also agreed to hire Shia Ulama in order to implement the ministry's religious edicts.[189] In general, the Taliban has maintained peace with most Muslims in the Shiite community,[190][191] although the 2022 Balkhab uprising resulted in the deaths of some Hazaras.[192]
The Taliban's ideology is not static. Before its capture of Kabul, members of the Taliban talked about stepping aside once a government of "good Muslims" took power and once law and order were restored. The decision-making process of the Taliban in Kandahar was modelled on the Pashtun tribal council (jirga), together with what was believed to be the early Islamic model. Discussion was followed by the building of a consensus by the believers.[193]
As the Taliban's power grew, Mullah Omar made decisions without consulting the jirga or visiting other parts of the country. He visited the capital, Kabul, only twice while he was in power. Taliban spokesman Mullah Wakil explained:
Decisions are based on the advice of the Amir-ul Momineen. For us consultation is not necessary. We believe that this is in line with the Sharia. We abide by the Amir's view even if he alone takes this view. There will not be a head of state. Instead there will be an Amir al-Mu'minin. Mullah Omar will be the highest authority and the government will not be able to implement any decision to which he does not agree. General elections are incompatible with Sharia and therefore we reject them.[194]
Another sign that the Taliban's ideology was evolving was Mullah Omar's 1999 decree in which he called for the protection of the Buddha statues at Bamyan and the destruction of them in 2001.[195]
The author Ahmed Rashid suggests that the devastation and hardship which resulted from the Soviet invasion and the period which followed it influenced the Taliban's ideology.[196] It is said that the Taliban did not include scholars who were 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.[196] 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."[197]
The Taliban have been criticized for their strictness towards those who disobeyed their imposed rules, and Mullah Omar has been criticized for titling himself Amir al-Mu'minin.
Mullah Omar was criticized for calling himself Amir al-Mu'minin on the grounds that he lacked scholarly learning, tribal pedigree, or connections to the Prophet's family. Sanction for the title traditionally required the support of all of the country's ulema, whereas only some 1,200 Pashtun Taliban-supporting Mullahs had declared that Omar was the Amir. According to Ahmed Rashid, "no Afghan had adopted the title since 1834, when King Dost Mohammed Khan assumed the title before he declared jihad against the Sikh kingdom in Peshawar. But Dost Mohammed was fighting foreigners, while Omar had declared jihad against other Afghans."[201]
Another criticism was that the Taliban called their 20% tax on truckloads of opium "zakat", which is traditionally limited to 2.5% of the zakat-payers' disposable income (or wealth).[201]
The Taliban have been compared to the 7th-century Kharijites who developed extreme doctrines which set them apart from both mainstream Sunni and Shiʿa Muslims. The Kharijites were particularly noted for adopting a radical approach to takfir, whereby they declared that other Muslims were unbelievers and deemed them worthy of death.[202][203][204]
In particular, the Taliban have been accused of takfir towards Shia. After the August 1998 slaughter of 8,000 mostly Shia Hazara non-combatants in Mazar-i-Sharif, Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, the Taliban commander of the attack and the new governor of Mazar, who was later killed by the Taliban after forming the rebellious High Council of the Islamic Emirate,[183] declared from Mazar's central mosque:
Last year you rebelled against us and killed us. From all your homes you shot at us. Now we are here to deal with you. The Hazaras are not Muslims and now have to kill Hazaras. You either accept to be Muslims or leave Afghanistan. Wherever you go we will catch you. If you go up we will pull you down by your feet; if you hide below, we will pull you up by your hair.[205]
Carter Malkasian, in one of the first comprehensive historical works on the Afghan war, argues that the Taliban are oversimplified in most portrayals. While Malkasian thinks that "oppressive" remains the best word to describe them, he points out that the Taliban managed to do what multiple governments and political players failed to: bring order and unity to the "ungovernable land". The Taliban curbed the atrocities and excesses of the Warlord period of the civil war from 1992–1996. Malkasian further argues that the Taliban's imposing of Islamic ideals upon the Afghan tribal system was innovative and a key reason for their success and durability. Given that traditional sources of authority had been shown to be weak in the long period of civil war, only religion had proved strong in Afghanistan. In a period of 40 years of constant conflict, the traditionalist Islam of the Taliban proved to be far more stable, even if the order they brought was "an impoverished peace".[206]: 50–51
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.[86] The Taliban and their allies committed massacres against Afghan civilians, denied UN food supplies to 160,000 starving civilians, and conducted a policy of scorched earth, burning vast areas of fertile land and destroying tens of thousands of homes. While the Taliban controlled Afghanistan, they banned activities and media including paintings, photography, and movies that depicted people or other living things. They also prohibited music with instrumental accompaniments, with the exception of the daf, a type of frame drum.[207] The Taliban prevented girls and young women from attending school, banned women from working jobs outside of healthcare (male doctors were prohibited from treating women), and required that women be accompanied by a male relative and wear a burqa at all times when in public. If women broke certain rules, they were publicly whipped or executed.[208] The Taliban harshly discriminated against religious and ethnic minorities during their rule and they have also committed a cultural genocide against the people of Afghanistan by destroying numerous monuments, including the famous 1500-year-old Buddhas of Bamiyan. According to the United Nations, the Taliban and their allies were responsible for 76% of Afghan civilian casualties in 2010, and 80% in 2011 and 2012.[209] The group is internally funded by its involvement in the illegal drug trade which it participates in by producing and trafficking in narcotics such as heroin,[210][211] extortion, and kidnapping for ransom.[212][213] They also seized control of mining operations in the mid-2010s that were illegal under the previous government.[214]
According to a 55-page report by the United Nations, the Taliban, while trying to consolidate control over northern and western Afghanistan, committed systematic massacres against civilians. 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".[215][216][217][218]
In 1998, the United Nations accused the Taliban of denying emergency food by the UN's World Food Programme to 160,000 hungry and starving people "for political and military reasons".[219] The UN said the Taliban were starving people for their military agenda and using humanitarian assistance as a weapon of war.[220][221][222][223][224]
On 8 August 1998, the Taliban launched an attack on Mazar-i-Sharif. Of 1500 defenders only 100 survived the engagement. Once in control the Taliban began to kill people indiscriminately. At first shooting people in the street, they soon began to target Hazaras. Women were raped, and thousands of people were locked in containers and left to suffocate. This ethnic cleansing left an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 people dead. At this time ten Iranian diplomats and a journalist were killed. Iran assumed the Taliban had murdered them, and mobilised its army, deploying men along the border with Afghanistan. By the middle of September there were 250,000 Iranian personnel stationed on the border. Pakistan mediated and the bodies were returned to Tehran towards the end of the month. The killings of the diplomats had been carried out by Sipah-e-Sahaba, a Pakistani Sunni group with close ties to the ISI. They burned orchards, crops and destroyed irrigation systems, and forced more than 100,000 people from their homes with hundreds of men, women and children still unaccounted for.[225][226][227][228][229]
In a major effort to retake the Shomali Plains to the north of Kabul from the United Front, the Taliban indiscriminately killed civilians, while uprooting and expelling the population. Among others, Kamal Hossein, a special reporter for the UN, reported on these and other war crimes. In Istalif, a town famous for handmade potteries and which was home to more than 45,000 people, the Taliban gave 24 hours' notice to the population to leave, then completely razed the town leaving the people destitute.[230][231]
In 1999, the town of Bamian was taken, hundreds of men, women and children were executed. Houses were razed and some were used for forced labour. There was a further massacre at the town of Yakaolang in January 2001. An estimated 300 people were murdered, along with two delegations of Hazara elders who had tried to intercede.[232][233]
By 1999, the Taliban had forced hundreds of thousands of people from the Shomali Plains and other regions conducting a policy of scorched earth burning homes, farm land and gardens.[230]
Several Taliban and al-Qaeda commanders ran a network of human trafficking, abducting ethnic minority women and selling them into sex slavery in Afghanistan and Pakistan.[234] Time magazine writes: "The Taliban often argued that the restrictions they placed on women were actually a way of revering and protecting the opposite sex. The behavior of the Taliban during the six years they expanded their rule in Afghanistan made a mockery of that claim."[234]
The targets for human trafficking were especially women from the Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara and other non-Pashtun ethnic groups in Afghanistan. Some women preferred to commit suicide over slavery, killing themselves. During one Taliban and al-Qaeda offensive in 1999 in the Shomali Plains alone, more than 600 women were kidnapped.[234] Arab and Pakistani al-Qaeda militants, with local Taliban forces, forced them into trucks and buses.[234] Time magazine writes: "The trail of the missing Shomali women leads to Jalalabad, not far from the Pakistan border. There, according to eyewitnesses, the women were penned up inside Sar Shahi camp in the desert. The more desirable among them were selected and taken away. Some were trucked to Peshawar with the apparent complicity of Pakistani border guards. Others were taken to Khost, where bin Laden had several training camps." Officials from relief agencies say, the trail of many of the vanished women leads to Pakistan where they were sold to brothels or into private households to be kept as slaves.[234]
To PHR's knowledge, no other régime in the world has methodically and violently forced half of its population into virtual house arrest, prohibiting them on pain of physical punishment.[236]
— Physicians for Human Rights, 1998
Brutal repression of women was widespread under the Taliban and it received significant international condemnation.[237][238][239][240][241][242][243][244][245][246] Abuses were myriad and violently enforced by the religious police.[247] For example, the Taliban issued edicts forbidding women from being educated, forcing girls to leave schools and colleges.[248][249][250][215][216][251][252][230] Women who were leaving their houses were required to be accompanied by a male relative and were obligated to wear the burqa,[253] a traditional dress covering the entire body except for a small slit out of which to see.[248][249] Those women who were accused of disobedience were publicly beaten. In one instance, a young woman named Sohaila was charged with adultery after she was caught walking with a man who was not a relative; she was publicly flogged in Ghazi Stadium, receiving 100 lashes.[254] Female employment was restricted to the medical sector, where male medical personnel were prohibited from treating women and girls.[248][255][256] This extensive ban on the employment of women further resulted in the widespread closure of primary schools, as almost all teachers prior to the Taliban's rise had been women, further restricting access to education not only to girls but also to boys. Restrictions became especially severe after the Taliban took control of the capital. In February 1998, for instance, religious police forced all women off the streets of Kabul and issued new regulations which ordered people to blacken their windows so that women would not be visible from outside.[257]
According to the United Nations, the Taliban and its allies were responsible for 76% of civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2009, 75% in 2010 and 80% in 2011.[222][258]
According to Human Rights Watch, the Taliban's bombings and other attacks which have led to civilian casualties "sharply escalated in 2006" when "at least 669 Afghan civilians were killed in at least 350 armed attacks, most of which appear to have been intentionally launched at non-combatants."[259][260]
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The United Nations reported that the number of civilians killed by both the Taliban and pro-government forces in the war rose nearly 50% between 2007 and 2009. The high number of civilians killed by the Taliban is blamed in part on their increasing use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), "for instance, 16 IEDs have been planted in girls' schools" by the Taliban.[261]
In 2009, Colonel Richard Kemp, formerly Commander of British forces in Afghanistan and the intelligence coordinator for the British government, drew parallels between the tactics and strategy of Hamas in Gaza to those of the Taliban. Kemp wrote:
Like Hamas in Gaza, the Taliban in southern Afghanistan are masters at shielding themselves behind the civilian population and then melting in among them for protection. Women and children are trained and equipped to fight, collect intelligence, and ferry arms and ammunition between battles. Female suicide bombers are increasingly common. The use of women to shield gunmen as they engage NATO forces is now so normal it is deemed barely worthy of comment. Schools and houses are routinely booby-trapped. Snipers shelter in houses deliberately filled with women and children.[262][263]
— Richard Kemp, Commander of British forces in Afghanistan
Hindus and Sikhs have lived in Afghanistan since historic times and they were prominent minorities in Afghanistan, well-established in terms of academics and businesses.[264] After the Afghan Civil War they started to migrate to India and other nations.[265] After the Taliban established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, they imposed strict Sharia laws which discriminated against Hindus and Sikhs and caused the size of Afghanistan's Hindu and Sikh populations to fall at a very rapid rate because they emigrated from Afghanistan and established diasporas in the Western world.[266] The Taliban issued decrees that forbade non-Muslims from building places of worship but allowed them to worship at existing holy sites, forbade non-Muslims from criticizing Muslims, ordered non-Muslims to identify their houses by placing a yellow cloth on their rooftops, forbade non-Muslims from living in the same residence as Muslims, and required that non-Muslim women wear a yellow dress with a special mark so that Muslims could keep their distance from them (Hindus and Sikhs were mainly targeted).[267] The Taliban announced in May 2001 that it would force Afghanistan's Hindu population to wear special badges, which has been compared to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany.[268] In general, the Taliban treated the Sikhs better than Afghan Shiites, Hindus and Christians.[269]
Along with Hindus, the small Christian community was also persecuted by the Taliban.[270] Violence against Western aid workers and Christians was common during the Afghan conflict.[271]
On several occasions between 2008 and 2012, the Taliban claimed that they assassinated Western and Afghani medical or aid workers in Afghanistan, because they feared that the polio vaccine would make Muslim children sterile, because they suspected that the 'medical workers' were really spies, or because they suspected that the medical workers were proselytizing Christianity.
In August 2008, three Western women (British, Canadian, US) who were working for the aid group 'International Rescue Committee' were murdered in Kabul. The Taliban claimed that they killed them because they were foreign spies.[272] In October 2008, the British woman Gayle Williams working for Christian UK charity 'SERVE Afghanistan' – focusing on training and education for disabled persons – was murdered near Kabul. Taliban claimed they killed her because her organisation "was preaching Christianity in Afghanistan".[272] In all 2008 until October, 29 aid workers, 5 of whom non-Afghanis, were killed in Afghanistan.[272]
In August 2010, the Taliban claimed that they murdered 10 medical aid workers while they were passing through Badakhshan Province on their way from Kabul to Nuristan Province – but the Afghan Islamic party/militia Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin has also claimed responsibility for those killings. The victims were six Americans, one Briton, one German and two Afghanis, working for a self-proclaimed "non-profit, Christian organization" which is named 'International Assistance Mission'. The Taliban stated that they murdered them because they were proselytizing Christianity and possessing which were translated into the Dari language when they were encountered. IAM contended that they "were not missionaries".[273]
In December 2012, unidentified gunmen killed four female UN polio-workers in Karachi in Pakistan; the Western news media suggested that there was a connection between the outspokenness of the Taliban and objections to and suspicions of such 'polio vaccinations'.[274] Eventually in 2012, a Pakistani Taliban commander in North Waziristan in Pakistan banned polio vaccinations,[275] and in March 2013, the Afghan government was forced to suspend its vaccination efforts in Nuristan Province because the Taliban was extremely influential in the province.[276] However, in May 2013, the Taliban's leaders changed their stance on polio vaccinations, saying that the vaccine is the only way to prevent polio and they also stated that they will work with immunization volunteers as long as polio workers are "unbiased" and "harmonized with the regional conditions, Islamic values and local cultural traditions."[277][278]
During the first period of Taliban rule, only two known Jews were left in Afghanistan, Zablon Simintov and Isaac Levy (c. 1920–2005). Levy relied on charity to survive, while Simintov ran a store selling carpets and jewelry until 2001. They lived on opposite sides of the dilapidated Kabul synagogue. They kept denouncing each other to the authorities, and both spent time in jail for continuously "arguing". The Taliban also confiscated the synagogue's Torah scroll. However, the two men were later released from prison when Taliban officials became annoyed by their arguing.[279] After August 2021, the last Jew Simintov and his relative left Afghanistan, ended centuries of Jewish presence in the country.[280][281]
Before the Taliban came to power, education was highly regarded in Afghanistan and Kabul University attracted students from Asia and the Middle East. However, the Taliban imposed restrictions on modern education, banned the education of females, only allowed Islamic religious schools to stay open and only encouraged the teaching of the Qur'an. Around half of all of the schools in Afghanistan were destroyed.[282] The Taliban have carried out brutal attacks on teachers and students and they have also threatened parents and teachers.[283]As per a 1998 UNICEF report, 9 out of 10 girls and 2 out of 3 boys did not enroll in schools. By 2000, fewer than 4–5% of all Afghan children were being educated at the primary school level and even fewer of them were being educated at higher secondary and university levels.[282]
Attacks on educational institutions, students and teachers and the forced enforcement of Islamic teachings have even continued after the Taliban were deposed from power. In December 2017, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that over 1,000 schools had been destroyed, damaged or occupied and 100 teachers and students had been killed by the Taliban.[284]
The Taliban have committed a cultural genocide against the Afghan people by destroying their historical and cultural texts, artifacts and sculptures.[88]
In the early 1990s, the National Museum of Afghanistan was attacked and looted numerous times, resulting in the loss of 70% of the 100,000 artifacts of Afghan culture and history which were then on display.[285]
On 11 August 1998, the Taliban destroyed the Puli Khumri Public Library. The library contained a collection of over 55,000 books and old manuscripts, one of the most valuable and beautiful collections of Afghanistan's cultural works according to the Afghan people.[286][287]
On 2 March 2001, the Buddhas of Bamiyan were destroyed with dynamite, on orders from the Taliban's leader Mullah Omar.[288]
In October of the same year, the Taliban "took sledgehammers and axes to thousands of years’ worth of artifacts"[87] in the National Museum of Afghanistan, destroying at least 2,750 ancient works of art.[289]
Afghanistan has a rich musical culture, where music plays an important part in social functions like births and marriages and it has also played a major role in uniting an ethnically diverse country.[290] However, since it came to power and even after it was deposed, the Taliban has banned most music, including cultural folk music, and it has also attacked and killed a number of musicians.[290][291][292][293]
During their first rule of Afghanistan which lasted from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban banned many recreational activities and games, such as association football, kite flying, and chess. Mediums of entertainment such as televisions, cinemas, music with instrumental accompaniments, VCRs and satellite dishes were also banned.[294] Also included on the list of banned items were "musical instruments and accessories" and all visual representation of living creatures.[290][295][296][297] However, the daf, a type of frame drum, wasn't banned.[207]
It was reported that when Afghan children were caught kiting, a highly popular activity, they were beaten.[298] When Khaled Hosseini learned through a 1999 news report that the Taliban had banned kite flying, a restriction he found particularly cruel, the news "struck a personal chord" for him, as he had grown up with the sport while living in Afghanistan. Hosseini was motivated to write a 25-page short story about two boys who fly kites in Kabul that he later developed into his first novel, The Kite Runner.
According to the testimony of Guantanamo captives before their Combatant Status Review Tribunals, the Taliban, in addition to conscripting men to serve as soldiers, also conscripted men to staff its civil service – both done at gunpoint.[299][300][301]
According to a report from Oxford University, the Taliban made widespread use of the conscription of children in 1997, 1998 and 1999.[302] The report states that during the civil war that preceded the Taliban régime, thousands of orphaned boys joined various militia for "employment, food, shelter, protection and economic opportunity." The report said that during its initial period, the Taliban "long depended upon cohorts of youth". Witnesses stated that each land-owning family had to provide one young man and $500 in expenses. In August of that year 5000 students aged between 15 and 35 left madrassas in Pakistan to join the Taliban.
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 brawl with other Taliban.[87] The Kandahar faction is named for the city that Mullah Omar came from and where he founded the Taliban, and is described as "insular" and "rural", interested "primarily" with "ruling its home turf". It includes Haibatullah Akhundzada, Mullah Yaqoob, Abdul Ghani Baradar (see below).
The family-based Haqqani network, by contrast are "closely linked to Pakistan's secret services", "interested in global jihad", with its founder (Jalaluddin Haqqani) "connected" the Taliban with Osama bin Laden.[87] It is named for its founder Jalaluddin Haqqani and is currently led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, and includes Khalil Haqqani, Mawlawi Mohammad Salim Saad.[87]With Sirajuddin Haqqani as acting interior minister, as of February 2022, the network has control of "a preponderance of security positions in Afghanistan".[87]
Taliban leadership have denied tension between factions. Suhail Shaheen states "there is one Taliban", and Zabihullah Mujahid (acting Deputy Minister of Information and Culture), even maintains "there is no Haqqani network."[87]
The top members of the Taliban as an insurgency, as of August 2021, are:[303]
All the top leadership of the Taliban are ethnic Pashtuns, more specifically those belonging of the Ghilzai confederation.[304]
Until his death in 2013, Mullah Mullah Omar was the supreme commander of the Taliban. Mullah Akhtar Mansour was elected as his replacement in 2015,[305] and following Mansour's killing in a May 2016 US drone strike, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada became the group's leader.[306]
The Taliban initially enjoyed goodwill from Afghans weary of the warlords' corruption, brutality, and incessant fighting.[307]This popularity was not universal, particularly among non-Pashtuns.
In 2001, the Taliban, de jure, controlled 85% of Afghanistan. De facto the areas under its direct control were mainly Afghanistan's major cities and highways. Tribal khans and warlords had de facto direct control over various small towns, villages, and rural areas.[308]
Rashid described the Taliban government as "a secret society run by Kandaharis ... mysterious, secretive, and dictatorial."[309] They did not hold elections, as their spokesman explained:
The Sharia does not allow politics or political parties. That is why we give no salaries to officials or soldiers, just food, clothes, shoes, and weapons. We want to live a life like the Prophet lived 1400 years ago, and jihad is our right. We want to recreate the time of the Prophet, and we are only carrying out what the Afghan people have wanted for the past 14 years.[310]
They modelled their decision-making process on the Pashtun tribal council (jirga), together with what they believed to be the early Islamic model. Discussion was followed by a building of a consensus by the "believers".[193] Before capturing Kabul, there was talk of stepping aside once a government of "good Muslims" took power, and law and order were restored.
As the Taliban's power grew, decisions were made by Mullah Omar without consulting the jirga and without consulting other parts of the country. He visited the capital, Kabul, only twice while in power. Instead of an election, their leader's legitimacy came from an oath of allegiance ("Bay'ah"), in imitation of the Prophet and the first four Caliphs. On 4 April 1996, Mullah Omar had "the Cloak of the Prophet Mohammed" taken from its shrine for the first time in 60 years. Wrapping himself in the relic, he appeared on the roof of a building in the center of Kandahar while hundreds of Pashtun mullahs below shouted "Amir al-Mu'minin!" (Commander of the Faithful), in a pledge of support. Taliban spokesman Mullah Wakil explained:
Decisions are based on the advice of the Amir-ul Momineen. For us consultation is not necessary. We believe that this is in line with the Sharia. We abide by the Amir's view even if he alone takes this view. There will not be a head of state. Instead there will be an Amir al-Mu'minin. Mullah Omar will be the highest authority, and the government will not be able to implement any decision to which he does not agree. General elections are incompatible with Sharia and therefore we reject them.[194]
The Taliban were very reluctant to share power, and since their ranks were overwhelmingly Pashtun they ruled as overlords over the 60% of Afghans from other ethnic groups. In local government, such as Kabul city council[309] or Herat,[311] Taliban loyalists, not locals, dominated, even when the Pashto-speaking Taliban could not communicate with the roughly half of the population who spoke Dari or other non-Pashtun tongues.[311] Critics complained that this "lack of local representation in urban administration made the Taliban appear as an occupying force."[312]
Consistent with the governance of the early Muslims was the absence of state institutions and the absence of "a methodology for command and control", both of which are standard today, even in non-Westernized states. The Taliban did not issue press releases or policy statements, nor did they hold regular press conferences. The basis for this structure was Grand Mufti Rashid Ahmed Ludhianvi's Obedience to the Amir, as he served as a mentor to the Taliban's leadership.[313] The outside world and most Afghans did not even know what their leaders looked like, because photography was banned.[314] The "regular army" resembled a lashkar or traditional tribal militia force with only 25,000 men (of whom 11,000 were non-Afghans).
Cabinet ministers and deputies were mullahs with a "madrasah education". Several of them, such as the Minister of Health and the Governor of the State bank, were primarily military commanders who left their administrative posts and fought whenever they were needed. Military reverses that trapped them behind enemy lines or led to their deaths increased the chaos in the national administration.[315] At the national level, "all senior Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara bureaucrats" were replaced "with Pashtuns, whether qualified or not". Consequently, the ministries "by and large ceased to function".[312]
The Ministry of Finance did not have a budget nor did it have a "qualified economist or banker". Mullah Omar collected and dispersed cash without bookkeeping.
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 which allowed them to establish a monopoly on all trade. By 2001, the per capita income of the 25 million population was under $200, and the country was close to total economic collapse. As of 2007 the economy had begun to recover, with estimated foreign reserves of three billion dollars and a 13% increase in economic growth.[243][316][317][318][319][320]
Under the Transit treaty between Afghanistan and Pakistan, a massive network for smuggling developed. It had an estimated turnover of 2.5 billion dollars with the Taliban receiving between $100 and $130 million per year. These operations along with the trade from the Golden Crescent financed the war in Afghanistan and also had the side effect of destroying start up industries in Pakistan. Ahmed Rashid also explained that the Afghan Transit Trade agreed on by Pakistan was "the largest official source of revenue for the Taliban."[321][322][323]
Between 1996 and 1999, Mullah Omar reversed his opinions on the drug trade, apparently as it only harmed kafirs. The Taliban controlled 96% of Afghanistan's poppy fields and made opium its largest source of taxation. Taxes on opium exports became one of the mainstays of Taliban income and their war economy. According to Rashid, "drug money funded the weapons, ammunition and fuel for the war." In The New York Times, the Finance Minister of the United Front, Wahidullah Sabawoon, declared the Taliban had no annual budget but that they "appeared to spend US$300 million a year, nearly all of it on war." He added that the Taliban had come to increasingly rely on three sources of money: "poppy, the Pakistanis and bin Laden."[323]
In an economic sense it seems he had little choice, as the war of attrition continued with the Northern Alliance the income from continued opium production was all that prevented the country from starvation. By 2000, Afghanistan accounted for an estimated 75% of the world's supply and in 2000 grew an estimated 3276 tonnes of opium from poppy cultivation on 82,171 hectares. At this juncture Omar passed a decree banning the cultivation of opium, and production dropped to an estimated 74 metric tonnes from poppy cultivation on 1,685 hectares. Many observers say the ban – which came in a bid for international recognition at the United Nations – was only issued in order to raise opium prices and increase profit from the sale of large existing stockpiles. 1999 had yielded a record crop and had been followed by a lower but still large 2000 harvest. The trafficking of accumulated stocks by the Taliban continued in 2000 and 2001. In 2002, the UN mentioned the "existence of significant stocks of opiates accumulated during previous years of bumper harvests." In September 2001 – before the 11 September attacks against the United States – the Taliban allegedly authorised Afghan peasants to sow opium again.[323][324][325][326]
There was also an environmental toll to the country, heavy deforestation from the illegal trade in timber with hundreds of acres of pine and cedar forests in Kunar Province and Paktya being cleared. Throughout the country millions of acres were denuded to supply timber to the Pakistani markets, with no attempt made at reforestation, which has led to significant environmental damage. By 2001, when the Afghan Interim Administration took power the country's infrastructure was in ruins, Telecommunications had failed, the road network was destroyed and Ministry of Finance buildings were in such a state of disrepair some were on the verge of collapse. On 6 July 1999, then president Bill Clinton signed into effect executive order 13129. This order implemented a complete ban on any trade between America and the Taliban régime and on 10 August they froze £5,000,000 in Ariana assets. On 19 December 2000, UN resolution 1333 was passed. It called for all assets to be frozen and for all states to close any offices belonging to the Taliban. This included the offices of Ariana Afghan Airlines. In 1999, the UN had passed resolution 1267 which had banned all international flights by Ariana apart from preapproved humanitarian missions.[327][328][329][330][331][332][333][334]
According to the lawsuit, filed in December 2019 in the D.C. District Court on behalf of Gold Star families, some US defense contractors involved in Afghanistan made illegal "protection payments" to the Taliban, funding a "Taliban-led terrorist insurgency" that killed or wounded thousands of Americans in Afghanistan.[335][336] In 2009, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the "protection money" was "one of the major sources of funding for the Taliban."[337]
It is estimated that in 2020 the Taliban had an income of $1.6 billion, mostly from drugs, mining, extortion and taxes, donations and exports.[213]
On 2 November 2021, the Taliban required that all economic transactions in Afghanistan use Afghanis and banned the use of all foreign currency.[338][339][340]
In 2022 construction on the Qosh Tepa Canal began in northern Afghanistan.[341]
On 20 April 2024, the Taliban decided to abolish Afghanistan's pension system as Hibatullah Akhundzada claimed it was “un-Islamic”, which prompted protests by retirees and older veterans of the Afghan Armed Forces in Kabul. The protest was dispersed by the Taliban.[342]
During the war, the Taliban were supported by several militant outfits which include the Haqqani network, Al-Qaeda and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Several countries like China, Iran, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia and Saudi Arabia allegedly support the Taliban.[citation needed] However, all of their governments deny providing any support to the Taliban. Likewise, the Taliban also deny receiving any foreign support from any country.[343] At its peak, formal diplomatic recognition of the Taliban's government was acknowledged by three nations: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. In the past, the United Arab Emirates and Turkmenistan were also alleged to have provided support to the Taliban. It is designated by some countries as a terrorist organization.
During its time in power (1996–2001), at its height ruling 90% of Afghanistan, the Taliban régime, or Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, gained diplomatic recognition from only three states: the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, all of which provided substantial aid. The most other nations and organizations, including the United Nations, recognised the government of the Islamic State of Afghanistan (1992–2002) (parts of whom were part of the United Front, also called Northern Alliance) as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Regarding its relations with the rest of the world, the Taliban's Emirate of Afghanistan held a policy of isolationism: "The Taliban believe in non-interference in the affairs of other countries and similarly desire no outside interference in their country's internal affairs".[344]
Traditionally, the Taliban were supported by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, while Iran, Russia, Turkey, India, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan formed an anti-Taliban alliance and supported the Northern Alliance.[345] After the fall of the Taliban régime at the end of 2001, the composition of the Taliban supporters changed. According to a study by scholar Antonio Giustozzi, in the years 2005 to 2015 most of the financial support came from the states Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, and Qatar, as well as from private donors from Saudi Arabia, from al-Qaeda and, for a short period of time, from the Islamic State.[346] About 54 percent of the funding came from foreign governments, 10 percent from private donors from abroad, and 16 percent from al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. In 2014, the amount of external support was close to $900 million.[347]
Following the Taliban's ascension to power, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan's model of governance has been widely criticized by the international community, despite the government's repeated calls for international recognition and engagement. Acting Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund stated that his interim administration has met all conditions required for official recognition.[348] In a bid to gain recognition, the Taliban sent a letter in September 2021 to the UN to accept Suhail Shaheen as Permanent Representative of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan – a request that had already been rejected by the UN Credentials Committee in 2021.[349]
On 10 October 2021, Russia hosted the Taliban for talks in Moscow in an effort to boost its influence across Central Asia. Officials from 10 different countries – Russia, China, Pakistan, India, Iran and five formerly Soviet Central Asian states – attended the talks, which were held during the Taliban's first official trip to Europe since their return to power in mid-August 2021.[350] The Taliban won backing from the 10 regional powers for the idea of a United Nations donor conference to help the country stave off economic collapse and a humanitarian catastrophe, calling for the UN to convene such a conference as soon as possible to help rebuild the country. Russian officials also called for action against Islamic State (IS) fighters, who Russia said have started to increase their presence in Afghanistan since the Taliban's takeover. The Taliban delegation, which was led by Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi, said that "Isolating Afghanistan is in no one's interests," arguing that the extremist group did not pose any security threat to any other country. The Taliban asked the international community to recognize its government,[351] but no country has yet recognized the new Afghan government.[348]
On 23 January 2022, a Taliban delegation arrived in Oslo, and closed-door meetings were held during the Taliban's first official trip to Western Europe and second official trip to Europe since their return to power.[352] Western diplomats told the Taliban that humanitarian aid to Afghanistan would be tied to an improvement in human rights.[353] The Taliban delegation, led by acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, met senior French foreign ministry officials, Britain's special envoy Nigel Casey, EU Special Representative for Afghanistan and members of the Norwegian foreign ministry. This followed the announcement by the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee that the committee would extend a travel ban exemption until 21 March 2022 for 14 listed Taliban members to continue attending talks, along with a limited asset-freeze exemption for the financing of exempted travel.[354] However, the Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said that the international community's call for the formation of an inclusive government was a political "excuse" after the 3-day Oslo visit.[355]
At the United Nations Security Council meeting in New York on 26 January 2022, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said the Oslo talks appeared to have been "serious" and "genuine". Norway says the talks do "not represent a legitimisation or recognition of the Taliban".[356] In the same meeting, the Russian Federation's delegate said attempts to engage the Taliban through coercion are counter-productive, calling on Western states and donors to return frozen funds.[357] China's representative said the fact that aid deliveries have not improved since the adoption of UNSC 2615 (2021) proves that the issue has been politicized, as some parties seek to use assistance as a bargaining chip.[358]
Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, the Russian Federation, and China were the first countries to accept the diplomatic credentials of Taliban-appointed envoys, although this is not equivalent to official recognition.[359][360][361]
On 4 July 2024, the Russian president Vladimir Putin stated that Taliban is an ally of Russia in the fight against terrorism.[362]
The Taliban movement was officially illegal in the following countries until 2023:
.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Canada_(Pantone).svg.png){kind=small}
Canada[363]
Russia[69]
Tajikistan[364]Former:
Kazakhstan (2005–2023)[365]
Kyrgyzstan (2006–2024)[366][367][368]
United States (2002–2015),[369] but never on the United States Department of State list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.[370]Despite the aid of United Nations (UN) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) given (see § Afghanistan during Taliban rule), the Taliban's attitude in 1996–2001 toward the UN and NGOs was often one of suspicion. The UN did not recognise the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, most foreign donors and aid workers were non-Muslims, and the Taliban vented fundamental objections to the sort of 'help' the UN offered. As the Taliban's Attorney General Maulvi Jalil-ullah Maulvizada put it in 1997:
Let us state what sort of education the UN wants. This is a big infidel policy which gives such obscene freedom to women which would lead to adultery and herald the destruction of Islam. In any Islamic country where adultery becomes common, that country is destroyed and enters the domination of the infidels because their men become like women and women cannot defend themselves. Anyone who talks to us should do so within Islam's framework. The Holy Koran cannot adjust itself to other people's requirements, people should adjust themselves to the requirements of the Holy Koran.[371]
In July 1998, the Taliban closed "all NGO offices" by force after those organisations refused to move to a bombed-out former Polytechnic College as ordered.[372] One month later the UN offices were also shut down.[373]
Around 2000, the UN drew up sanctions against officials and leaders of Taliban, because of their harbouring Osama bin Laden. Several of the Taliban leaders have subsequently been killed.[374]
In 2009, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and US Secretary Hillary Clinton called for talks with 'regular Taliban fighters' while bypassing their top leaders who supposedly were 'committed to global jihad'. Kai Eide, the top UN official in Afghanistan, called for talks with Taliban at the highest level, suggesting Mullah Omar – even though Omar dismissed such overtures as long as foreign troops were in Afghanistan.[375]
In 2010, the UN lifted sanctions on the Taliban, and requested that Taliban leaders and others be removed from terrorism watch lists. In 2010 the US and Europe announced support for President Karzai's latest attempt to negotiate peace with the Taliban.[374][376][377]
The Taliban were portrayed in Khaled Hosseini's popular 2003 novel The Kite Runner[378] and its 2007 film adaption. The Taliban have also been portrayed in American film, most notably in Lone Survivor (2013) which is based on a real-life story.[citation needed] Hindi cinema have also portrayed the Taliban in Kabul Express (2006),[379] and Escape from Taliban (2003) which is based on a real-life novel A Kabuliwala's Bengali Wife,[380] whose author Sushmita Banerjee was shot dead by the Taliban in 2013.[381]
A spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, Wang Wenbin, on Thursday denied the accusation, calling it a "smear and slander against China" that was "completely nonsense" and "fake news."
Both Tehran and the Taliban denied cooperation during the first decade after the US intervention, but the unholy alliance is no longer a secret and the two sides now unapologetically admit and publicize it.
Pakistan provided military support, including arms, ammunition, fuel, and military advisers, to the Taliban through its Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
Of all the foreign powers involved in efforts to sustain and manipulate the ongoing fighting [in Afghanistan], Pakistan is distinguished both by the sweep of its objectives and the scale of its efforts, which include soliciting funding for the Taliban, bankrolling Taliban operations, providing diplomatic support as the Taliban's virtual emissaries abroad, arranging training for Taliban fighters, recruiting skilled and unskilled manpower to serve in Taliban armies, planning and directing offensives, providing and facilitating shipments of ammunition and fuel, and ... directly providing combat support.
'Taliban have assured Russia and Central Asian countries that it would not allow any group, including the IMU, to use Afghan soil against any foreign state,' Muzhdah said.
Incidentally, the Taliban regime has denied the existence of the TTT…
The Afghan militants' closeness to Pakistani jihadist group Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP or, simply, the Pakistani Taliban) is a particular source of concern. The TTP have carried out scores of deadly attacks since their inception in the 2000s, including the infamous 2014 Peshawar school massacre. The Taliban and the TTP are "two faces of the same coin", Pakistani Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and ISI boss Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed acknowledged at an off-the-record briefing in July. Indeed, the Taliban reportedly freed a senior TTP commander earlier this month during their sweep through Afghanistan. "Pakistan definitely worries about the galvanising effects the Taliban's victory will have on other Islamist militants, and especially the TTP, which was already resurging before the Taliban marched into Kabul," Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, told France 24. "It's a fear across the establishment."
The Taliban refer to this government, as they have for decades referred to themselves, as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
the Taliban movement, which calls itself the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
Most of the original Taliban leaders came from the same three southern provinces—Kandahar, Uruzgan and Helmand—and nearly all of them fought for one of the two main clerical resistance parties during the war against the Soviets: Hezb-e Islami (Khales) and Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi's Harakat-I Ineqelab-ye Islami. The Taliban's fighting ranks were mostly filled with veterans of the war against Soviet forces.
[Translated] I am currently in the Emirates to prevent bloodshed
The Taliban outlawed bacha bazi during their six year-reign in Afghanistan, but as soon as the U.S. overthrew the Taliban, newly-empowered mujahideen warlords rekindled the practice of bacha bazi.
Contrary to some understandable, but inflated, claims ..., the Taliban had not intended to either wipe out Hazaras or Shias from the land; in fact they canvassed the support of several Hazara commanders, seniormost a former enemy called Muhammad Akbari, and even obtained the approval of some Shia clerics.
The largest of the Shia parties, Hezb-e Wahdat-e Islami, had already split into two during the Taleban era, when Ustad Muhammad Akbari struck an agreement with them and maintained control – under some Kandahari supervision – over parts of the Hazarajat, while Khalili's wing remained with the NA.
The only Shiite official of the Taliban was Sayed Gardizi, a Shiite Sayed from Gardez in the southeast of the country. He was appointed as the district governor of Yakawlang.
Some senior Hazara commanders are with the Taliban in Bamyan and Daikundi, and there are a couple of Taliban shadow governors or provincial-level military leaders who are Hazara. ... Qarabaghi, a cluster of villages near the provincial capital of Ghazni, inhabited by a community of Shia Hazaras ... are surrounded by a Sunni population and have very normalised and friendly relations with them, including even inter-marriages. In this particular context, these Hazara communities had active Taliban fighters. ... The Hazaras joined with the Sunni Pashtuns in collective security or governance initiatives which were sometimes directed by the Taliban. ... A few years ago, a Hazara pro-government militia commander in Gizab district (Daykundi) named Fedayi defected with a few dozen of his men to the Taliban. A video was released of him pledging allegiance to the Taliban. It was claimed that he had about 50 fighters but this remained unverified.
In 1994 the Taliban was created, funded and inspired by Pakistan
A Taliban spokesman said that the Taliban had not "received military assistance from any country".
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