In recent weeks, the Taliban has been rising again in Afghanistan, taking over many district capitals from government forces after the US withdrew troops from the country.
A Taliban member in Ghazni, Afghanistan in April 2015.
The Taliban originated from the Muslim Mujahedeen rebel groups of Afghanistan in the 1980s. These rebel groups were funded and armed by a series of powers, including the United States, to fight the presence of Soviet forces.
In 1989, when the Soviet Union withdrew its troops, the Afghan government backed by Moscow gradually weakened and was overthrown by Mujahedeen rebels in 1992. Immediately after that, Mujahedeen groups fought among themselves to compete for power in the new government.
An Islamic fundamentalist group with a majority of members being ethnic Pashtuns, the Taliban is believed to have first appeared in Saudi Arabia-funded harsh Islamic teaching organizations in northern Pakistan.
In 1994, the Taliban began a military campaign from southern Afghanistan.
For war-weary Afghans, the Taliban’s promise to bring security, order and curb corruption is appealing.
In 1999, under the leadership of the Taliban, not a single Afghan girl attended secondary school and only 4% of the 9,000 primary school-age girls attended school.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States demanded that the Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden and expel al-Qaeda members from Afghanistan.
The United States and the coalition launched the military campaign Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan from October 7, 2001.
After being defeated, many high-ranking members of the Taliban escaped and are believed to have taken refuge in Quetta, Pakistan.
The Taliban reorganized in 2004 and began a bloody insurgency against the new Afghan government and the foreign troops supporting them.
There are many reasons that can explain the rise of the Taliban, including the corruption and incompetence of the Afghan government in Kabul, lack of strategy, the negative impact of foreign military campaigns, and increasing dependence on the Taliban.
The US has forged a deal with the Taliban and is withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, posing an existential threat to the fragile post-2001 political order, which has been shaped, financed and protected largely by money and
The agreement between the US and the Taliban has made some optimistic about the possibility of ending the long war with a political solution and reducing the possibility of Afghanistan once again becoming a haven for terrorists.
Forces control Afghanistan.
Now, the Taliban is `sounding the drum of victory` and seems to be preparing to reestablish the government overthrown by the US and coalition forces 20 years ago.
The Taliban’s current footprint is around traditional strongholds in the south and southwest of the country, including northern Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul, the hills of southern Faryab in the northwest and the Badakhshan mountains in the east.
The Afghan government was forced to abandon some districts when it could not withstand pressure from the Taliban.
Afghan government forces mainly hold cities and districts in the plains or river valleys, where the majority of the population lives.
The Afghan government said it had sent reinforcements to all major cities threatened by the Taliban and imposed a month-long night curfew across the country, aimed at preventing the Taliban from entering the cities.
Although the Taliban appear to be concentrating their forces in central areas such as Herat and Kandahar, they have not been able to capture any major urban areas.
The US has warned that it will not recognize the Taliban government in Kabul if it takes Kabul by force.
`If the Taliban takes over the government by military means, it does not mean the war is over in Afghanistan. Peace and stability in multi-ethnic societies can only be guaranteed through coexistence,
`Different interests of countries in the region could fuel growing local resentment against the Taliban, as happened in the late 1990s, thus possibly prolonging the war.`
Aurora