The President of the United States, Joe Biden, made the decision to withdraw all US troops from the Arab country.
"American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves." Those were the words of President Biden, in his defense against the backlash he received from the International community.
The Taliban has declared victory after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled and his government collapsed. Kabul was the last major city in Afghanistan to fall to the accelerated offensive by Taliban.
In the midst of this event, here are five things you should know about The Taliban.
(1)
Taliban was founded by Mohammed Omar. He was an Afghan mullah (cleric) who led the Taliban and founded the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 1996. Omar was born in 1969 in the khakrez district, Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Born into a poor family, Omar graduated from Darul Uloom Haqqania in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. During the 1980s, he joined the Afghan mujahideen in their war against the Soviet Union and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan~ Wikipedia.
Under his leadership, the movement blossomed and spread throughout most of Afghanistan. Taliban held most of the country until it was overthrown after the US-led invasion in December 2001.
(2)
In 2001, reportedly 2,500 arabs under command of the notorious Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden fought for the Taliban. It is therefore safe to say that the Taliban aided Al-Qaeda in the September 11 attacks.
The attacks claimed the lives of over 3,000 people and left 25,000 injured. The destruction of the World Trade Center and nearby infrastructure seriously harmed the economy of New York City and created a global economic recession.
Although the Taliban was not responsible, but they were accused of haboring Osama bin Laden, who was responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
(3)
Just like most terror organization in the world,
the Taliban are known for their harsh enforcement of their interpretation of the Islamic Sharia law, which has resulted in the oppressive and brutal treatment of many Afghans.
According to UN, religious and ethnic minorities were heavily discriminated against during Taliban rule.
The Taliban's ideology has been described as combining an "innovative" form of Sharia Islamic law based on Deobandi fundamentalism and militant Islamism, combined with Pashtun social and cultural norms known as Pashtuneali, as most Taliban are Pashtun tribesmen~ Wikipedia.
(4)
Some of their allies includes Qatar, Pakistan, UAE (until 2001), Haqqani network, Al-Qaeda (until 2012), Islamic movement of Uzbekistan etc.
Those who oppose them includes USA, India, United Kingdom, North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO), ISAF, Northern Alliance and so on.
(5)
One of the major discussion since the Taliban took control is the future of women in Afghanistan. The Taliban are known for their misogyny and violence against women.
Women are forced to wear burqa at all times in public.
Burqa or Burka is an enveloping outer garment which covers the body and the face that is worn by women.
According to one Taliban spokesman, "the face of a woman is a source of corruption" for men not related to them.
The Taliban encouraged child marriage. Amnesty International reported that 80% of Afghan marriages were forced.Women were publicly flooged and executed for violating Taliban laws.