Taliban (predecessor of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan)

The Taliban is an Islamist political and military movement that originated in Afghanistan during the early 1990s, emerging from a context of civil war and chaos. Comprising primarily Pashtun students and religious scholars, they sought to establish a strict Islamic state based on their interpretation of Sharia law. The Taliban gained control of Afghanistan in 1996 and ruled until 2001, imposing severe restrictions on civil liberties, especially for women and minorities. After being ousted by U.S.-led forces, they remained an insurgent group, regrouping over time and reinstating their governance under the name the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 2021.