The Rise of the Taliban

The beginning of the Taliban goes all the way back to the mujaheddin of the Afghan-Soviet war when the USSR invaded Afghanistan. The Soviets were focused on the political diffusion of Communism into Afghanistan, meanwhile the United States wanted to prevent the spread of communism and bring attention to democracy. The CIA had a huge push to equip the mujaheddin with Stinger missiles to win the war against the Soviets. (Crile 36)Some of those Stinger missiles have been found in Taliban ammo dumps in the mountains of Afghan. Once the Soviets left Afghan, the political infrastructure had been depleted. United States and United Nations went to help the areas affected by the spread of communism. Some radicals did not approve of this and led to the 90’s Desert Storm War, later leading to the rise of the Taliban and the corrupt government of Afghanistan. We are responsible for equipping the Taliban with what was later used against us, in the war we are still fighting today.

Due to the Soviet-Afghan war, the Afghanistan regime that was backed by the Soviets fell in 1992. The country then went into a period of civil war and was mostly run by individual warlords of different sects. The political and economical infrastructure was crippled due to the Afghan-Soviet war, and continued to break down as the civil war broke out. This gave the Taliban potential to move in and gain power. (Soufan 112-150) The Taliban formed from what was left of the Mullah Omar's (the leader) mujaheddin. Initially formed in 1991, they did not gain much swing until the spring of 1994.
As soon as the Taliban grew in size with more supporters, they took over Kandahar with little resistance. Followers trained in madrassas, which were radical Islamist schools. Basically, trained terrorists that were sent into Afghan to fight for the Taliban. In 1995 they attacked the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul, and took it over later that year forming the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. As far as the Taliban’s economical infrastructure they had Saudi money and Pakistan military equipment from the Soviet war. They kicked out Ahmed Shah Massoud who continued to fight the Taliban until he was killed the week of the 9/11 attacks.

The view of the Taliban from the Afghan people is similar to the rest of the world’s views. But initially, the Taliban did grant the people something they had always wanted. They gave the people stability, security, and peace. They promised the people this, as they continued to gain power and control of Afghanistan. However, once power was theirs, the people realized how radical their ways really were. Women were not allowed to attend school or hold jobs. Men were required to grow beards in accordance with Sharia Law. "To tell you the truth, I could not find a single woman who had anything positive to say about the Taliban. Similarly, most men I talked to did not support the Taliban either; they didn’t even want them there." (Eren Güvercin).