Since 1996, the Taliban has created an environment of terror and disorder within the country of Afghanistan. Although terrorists within Afghanistan and of the Islam religion believe that they are justified in their actions, it is made clearly apparent that Terrorism must be stopped altogether.
Defining the Issue
Terrorism is translated to mean ‘army in the shadows’ and is defined as the threat or use of violence to win certain rewards or goals ( Dictionary.com, 2010). The earliest known Terrorist organization similar to those of today was the Zealots of Judea, formed when fanatics of the Jewish faith revolted against the of the Roman oppression. They carried on an underground campaign wherein they assassinated Roman occupation forces and Jews that they believed had collaborated with the Romans. However, the first time that the word ‘terrorism’ was used was during the French Revolution which is referred to as the ‘Reign of terror’. During this time the Jacobins who ruled with violence at that time, would sometimes refer to themselves as ‘terrorists’ (terrorism-research.com). Since then, there have been other leaders and people seeking power using terrorism as a weapon. These include the Russian dictator, Joseph Stalin, and Adolf Hitler, a man responsible for the murder of over 6 million people.
The Taliban itself took control of Afghanistan in 1996 and were in power until 2001. During this time however, they were not accepted by the world’s community because their policies were considered intolerable, primarily regarding their treatment of women and their support of Terrorism. They were removed from power in 2001 by America when they refused to give up Al Quada leader Osama bin Laden, who they were protecting after the 9/11 attacks (for which they were responsible). The members of the Taliban were one of the mujahidin (‘holy warriors’ or ‘freedom fighters’) groups that formed during the War against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, led by a man by the name of Mullah Muhammad Omar. During their time in power they put heavy restrictions on women, treating them more like objects than human beings. The Taliban also closely supported terrorism, as they allowed terrorist organizations to run training camps in their territory and from 1994 until just after the September 11 attacks, provided refuge and funding for bin Laden and his Al-Quada organization. Though they were so strict on the people of Afghanistan, the Taliban however profited from smuggling operations (mostly electronics) and through the cultivation of opium.
The Taliban or “students” is a political-religious group founded in Kandahar, Afghanistan. They controlled 90% of Afghanistan from 1996-2001, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. The group formed after the ten year war in Afghanistan in anticipation of composing a new society based from Islamic Law. Most of the members in
The Taliban is an ultra-fundamentalist group that has 90 percent of Afghanistan under its control (Taliban). When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 Islamic factions united to expel the Russian occupiers from Afghanistan (Afghanistan). The new government that had formed soon collapsed from the deep-rooted ethnic and religious differences of its members (Afghanistan). The Taliban emerged victorious from the ensuing civil war to establish a reign of terror on the Afghan people (Afghanistan).
The Afghanistan insurgency between 1979 and 1989 ended with the withdrawal of the Soviet Union armed forces . This “successful” rebellion was not merely because the Soviet Union saw the Taliban as a simple Islamist movement and underestimated their resistant, but it was also believed that the special characteristics that the Taliban insurgents possess, such as motivation and strategy played important role. This article will assess the special characteristics that identify Taliban as an insurgent group, specifically on the purpose and motivation of their fight, popular support and the strategies and tactics that were used by them to expel the Soviet Union from Afghan soil. Overall, this essay argues that these three characteristics comprise some of the several causes that contributed to Soviet Union withdrawal from Afghanistan. To summarize, this essay will sequentially examine the Afghanistan’s movement features, first is the purpose and motivation, second the popular support to their movement and their strategies and tactics against Soviet Union. In addition, in the conclusion, there will be a summary of the article and some recommendations for further research in order to complete the understanding of the Afghani Mujahideen insurgency.
Certain revolutions in Afghanistan occurred between 1978 and 2001 which caused the US War with Afghanistan. The United States helped Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel by giving them military weapons and, as a result, the Soviet Union viewed this as if the United States was trying to have power over the Middle East. After the collapse of the Soviet regime in Afghanistan, Afghan socialists fought over power, which led to the creation of Taliban by Mullah Omar, a religious preacher who taught in Pakistan. During Mullah Omar’s time, Osama Bin-Laden came to Afghanistan and he ...
The Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) in northwest Pakistan serves as a sanctuary for the Taliban (“Afghanistan And Pakistan” 10). Although within Pakistan’s borders, the federal government does not exert actual control of the region, rather local Pashtun leaders govern the area and the region is believed to be home to many radical Islamic training camps and hideouts (Kurtzman 308). Moreover, the Pakistani ISI (think CIA of Pakistan), provides “logistics assistance” to the Taliban (“Afghanistan And Pakistan” 10) and the CIA even believes that the ISI provided support to the Taliban in a 2008 bombing of an Indian embassy in Kabul (Feisal 172). Multiple agencies, such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies and U.S. General Accountability Office, have concluded that the ISI provides significant support for the Taliban (Feisel 172). With all this mind, the Pakistan government chooses to support the Taliban (although they will not directly admit it) because of their strained relationship with Kabul, self interest to spread radical Islam rather than Pashtun nationalism, and their rival, India, supports an anti-Pakistan government in control of Afghanistan (Feisal 173). By Pakistan empowering the Taliban, this creates the opportunity to have a pro-Pakistan government in Afghanistan if the Taliban were able to control the country once again (“Afghanistan And Pakistan” 9). By spreading radical Islam, Pakistan is diverting Pashtuns attention from their ethnic culture to the religion of Islam; they do this because empowered Pashtuns might want to form a “Pashtunistan” which would require Pakistan to give up some of its land to a new nation (“Afghanistan And Pakistan” 9). Furthermore, Pakistan is rivals with India which wants an anti-Pakistani government in Kabul and Pakistan has tried to empower the Taliban in order to prevent
Terrorism has been around since the first century. Terrorism is the use of violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal. Though it wasn’t always in the United States. The first group of terrorists was known as the Zealots of Judea. The romans also knew them as the Sicarii or the dagger-men because sica means small dagger. They were motivated by the belief that they couldn’t stay faithful to the Jewish beliefs while still being Romans. They were founded by Hassan Al-Sabah. He was known as the mountain man because he ran his cult in the Mountain Fortress of Alamut. From 2000-2004 more than one thousand people died or were injured be the Palestine. In 9/11/2001
The group was lead by Mullah Mohammed Omar, and has destroyed the way the society not only thinks but works. The Taliban had frequently done various sorts of things that changed the mentalities of individuals. For instance, ''Hassan protested again. So they took him to the street..and order him to kneel...and shot him in the back of the head...shot her too. Self-defense, they claimed later.'' (231). This quote implies that citizens who stand up for what they believe in will not be heard but will have extreme force used against them. Moreover, this spends a very negative and inaccurate message to the individuals of Kabul. This outcome causes society to be petrified as they will not only stand up for their loved ones but more importantly themselves. For example, ''The tall Talib with the black sunglasses walked to the pile of stones they had unloaded from the third truck. He picked up a rock and showed it to the crowd...The Talib, looking absurdly like a baseball pitcher on the mound, hurled the stone at the blindfolded man in the hole. It struck the side of his head.'' (284). This quote represents the change in society as the crowd only watched. No one had stood up for what was right thinking it was acceptable for the Taliban to do such considering the violent acts they execute and have completed. Not only have the Taliban brainwashed the citizens of Kabul but are also
The Taliban has had an outstanding impact on the men, women and children or Afghanistan. The Taliban is a group of radical Muslims who frown upon traditional and modern day ideologies. In Afghanistan. However Najmah, was affected by the Taliban in many ways. In conclusion, The Taliban had a great impact on the people of Afghanistan, although the Taliban is not as active presently, many people are still affected by
Many Islamic Militia groups such as the taliban start to rise and form packs with other freedom fighters to seize control of Afghanistan. In Witte’s article Afghanistan War, Griffe states that “In 1996 the Taliban seized Kabul and instituted a severe interpretation of Islamic law that, for example, forbade female education and prescribed the severing of hands, or even execution, as punishment for petty crimes” (Witte). With the Taliban's presences and al- Qaeda's enforcement of the new law the Taliban gained control of almost nearly 90 percent of Afghan territory by the summer of 2001. With many of Afghanistan's people not agreeing with the newly enforced laws nearly one million people begin to flee to neighboring countries. With many people finally seeing and disagreeing with the the taliban's laws, freedom fighters from the past wars start to rise and form opposing rebellions against the taliban and al-Qaeda. Outrage by other rebellion groups, al-Qaeda start to carry out executions and other terrorist attacks. Ethnic groups in the north, under Massoud's Northern Alliance, and the south, aided in part by Hamid Karzai, continue to battle the Taliban for control of the country. (ADMIN 27) In September 9th al-Qaeda hit men carried out the assassination of famed mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, who at the time was leading the Northern Alliance.(Witte 5) Outraged by the Northern Alliance's support of U.S. the Taliban and al- Qaeda start to target American embassies. (Admin
The word terror dates back to the French Revolution. “A terrorist was, in its original meaning, a Jacobin who ruled France during la Terruer” (Moeller 20). Terrorism has clearly become much broader in the years since its origination. Since the concept was first birthed in France it has been used for separatist, nationalistic, political and religious ends, etc.
The economy of Afghanistan has significantly enhanced since the decline of the Taliban in 2001 due to the infusion of international assistance, the recovery of the agricultural sector, and service sector growth. Regardless of the progress of the past few years, this country is extremely poverty stricken, highly dependent on foreign aid, and landlocked. A lot of the population continues to suffer from shortages of jobs, clean water, electricity, medical care, and housing. Offences, insecurity, lack of infrastructure, and the Afghan Government's difficulty in extending rule of law to all parts of the country produces obstacles to the future economic growth of Afghanistan. Afghanistan's living standards are among the lowest in the world.
The terrorist group called the Taliban control most of Afghanistan especially in the rural areas. They inforce brutal laws and beat and kill people daily for illogical reasons. They keep all women from having basic rights. The women that live in the places controlled by the Taliban endure extreme adversity. Women in these areas can’t show their faces, and don’t even dare to speak. Schools are destroyed as the Taliban forbid schooling, they build their own schools to teach children the justification of taking part in a suicide bombing, young children as young as 5 years old are being taught that suicide is a loyal and honorable thing to do. And the sad part is many of the children believe this and are proud to do this horrific act, and most of the time not only one live is lost, buildings can be reduced to rubble possibly killing many (Children of the Taliban. ) The Taliban has such an influence here that people will “tattle”on their neighbors for watching videos, playing cards, and even reading (I was a Taliban Torture.) Drug abuse is another big problem that goes relatively unnoticed, 60% of people living in Afghanistan do drugs and including children. (From Cradle to Grave Addicts.) Drugs are very easy to get in Afghanistan because it is grown there from poppys, poppys create opium and heroin (Cradle to Grave
An iron fisted dictator that used internal security forces to maintain his grip on power by suppressing any and all dissent was replaced by a weak and corrupt pro-American government. The new government lacked any real form of legitimacy and violence in the country intensified as armed Shia and Sunni extremist groups and militias battled each other and NATO security forces across the country.[11] Terrorists attacks such as car bombings and attacks by armed gunmen increased, and many pundits and think tanks started to question the Coalition’s ability to properly run the occupation. The situation in Afghanistan was not much better. In 2001, when the United States invaded Afghanistan, most of the country was in the hands of the Taliban. There was a civil war going in the north, where an alliance of Tajik tribes along with a smaller number of Uzbeks opposed the Pashtun dominated Taliban. [12] The most populous regions of the country including the nation’s largest city, Kabul, were controlled by the Taliban who enforced Shariah Law and prevented women from getting an education. When our leaders spoke of our involvement in Afghanistan they spoke of human rights, democracy and access to education for all. But the situation in Afghanistan went from bad to worse as the initially defeated Taliban bounced back and took control of their traditional strongholds in the south. Following a
In the past ten years the Afghan Government has been dealing with a number of issues that have caused problems for the country, problems such as illegal drug trade, terrorism and violence. But nowadays they are fighting a problem that has long existed between people, and quite recently has taken a whole new aspect to it. Ethnic conflict is the destructive factor that has caused problems between people for generations, often leading to fights, outbreak of violence and grudge between different ethnicities.
The word terrorism was first used during the French Revolution from the reign of terror inflicted by the French from 1784-1804 ("International Affairs"). It was used to describe the violent acts perpetrated on the French that inflicted terror on the various peoples and instilled fear within them. However, at the time it had a more positive connotation than the term that instills fear today. During the French Revolution this was because it referred to state-sponsored terrorism in order to show the need of state instead of anarchy, sometimes promoted by other groups (Hoffman 2). Therefore, even though terrorism has taken a new nature, terrorism can refer to official governments or guerrilla groups operating outside national governments ("International Affairs"). In order to encompass terrorism’s various sectors and explain it to the public, in both positive and negative aspects, many analysts have tried to put it into a few words. Terrorism is a method used by tightly of loosely organized groups operation within states or international territories that are systematic in using deliberate acts of violence or threats in order to instill...