Taliban : Rise, Fall and Rising strong again

Hello everyone

First of all, I want to apologize for updating my blog after a long time. I was busy in my college studies and other stuffs. This article is based on my recent research about Taliban, How they were formed? Why it was formed? Is Taliban and Al Qaeda same sides of a coin?

Talib is an Arabic word meaning "one who is seeking" but the word has evolved to mean "someone who is seeking religious knowledge." The Taliban Militia (Students of Islamic Knowledge Movement) rules approximately two thirds of Afghanistan. It was established in 1994, shortly after the Pakistani government announced its intention to establish a trade route through Afghanistan to Central Asia. At this time, Afghanistan was in a state of chaos and under Mujahideen rule. The Taliban Militia's aim was to disarm Afghan warlords, return law and order to the country and enforce Islamic law over a united Afghanistan. By February 1995 the Taliban Militia had captured half of the southern provinces of Afghanistan from mujahideen rebels and in September 1996 it took Kabul, the capital city, establishing a strict Islamic rule of law.

Initially Afghan people supported Taliban movement and lot of Afghani joined the movement against Mujahideen - who were fighting amongst themselves for the control of the country. Mujahideens were hailed as heroes when they were fighting against the Russians, but as soon as Russians left the country, the country was divided by mujahideens who fought amongst themselves to get control over the country.

Talibanis first won Kandahar and then slowly and slowly managed to get control over every city of Afghanistan. They almost faced no resistance because of support of people (They thought Taliban will bring security to the civil war-torned nation). Mullah Omar was the head of Taliban and it was he who started this movement of Taliban to establish a pure Islamic state in Afghanistan. He claimed that Prophet Mohammad (SAW) had come in his dream and he is destined to become the ruler of Afghanistan and establish a Islamic state. Except for small resistance from the northern parts of Afghanistan where mostly Tajiks lived, Taliban had became the ruler of whole of Afghanistan. One fine morning when Talibanis had almost conquered whole of Afghanistan, Radio Afghanistan announced 30 point edicts which included women covering themselves with veil, ban on lipstick, Alcohol, Movies, any kind of sports etc.
The worst nightmares of Afghanistan became a reality when Talibanis became cruel and started killing people publicly who disobeyed them. E.g. they used the football stadium of Kabul to kill people publicly.

Now let us talk something about the most wanted man in this world "Osama Bin Laden". He is from Saudi Arabia and is from a very rich family. During the Russian war he helped Mujahideens by money, by training them and thus was respected by Afghans. When Osama Bin Laden expressed his desire to get an asylum in Afghanistan, Mullah Omar readily agreed and treated him as guest. Thus Al Qaeda leader got asylum and raised its cadre based to plant attacks on USA (Whom he considers the enemy of Islam). Osama Bin Laden in return of asylum given to him, provided various Engineering skills and knowledge to Mullah Omar on how to run economy of a nation.

On Sept 11, 2001, World trade centers were attacked by Al Qaeda and the world changed forever thence. USA asked Talibani government of Afghanistan to hand them Osama Bin Laden, but they refused citing that USA didn't have enough proof against Osama Bin Laden. Mullah Omar vowed that Osama bin laden is their guest and according to Pashtun tradition they will fight till the end of their life to protect Osama Bin Laden.

So we can acknowledge one thing here is that Taliban and Al Qaeda are two different organizations. Taliban protected Osama because USA could not provide adequate proof of his involvement. Today Afghanistan is a war ripped country. Karzai government which promised to bring peace to the people of Afghanistan has failed. Everyday there is some bomb attack in some part of Afghanistan. Afghanis are again turning to talibanis as at least they provided them security and peace if not individual freedom.

Taliban is an idealogy and not a group of people. You can kill a militant group, but not an ideology. Moreover until the logistical support by Pakistan continues, it is difficult for the Allied forces to gain victory in Afghanistan. With days passing, chances of war being lost by Allied forces is increasing. Once the Allied forces leave this country, this country will again plunge into civil war and again Taliban will come to their rescue.

It will be in the interest of the world and Afghani people, if their can be some peace agreement with Taliban, so that they get their share of power and people get their share of freedom. The whole world should work towards the development of this country which is under the civil war for 3 decades where average age of a person is hardly 42 years.