Taliban 's rise to power - wikipedia Taliban 's rise to power Main article : Taliban This is a timeline of the background of the Taliban 's rise to power. It details the Taliban movement 's origins in Pashtun nationalism, and briefly relates its ideological underpinnings with that of broader Afghan society. It details the Taliban 's consolidation of power, listing persecutions by the Taliban officials during its five years in power in Afghanistan and during its war with the Northern Alliance. Contents 1 Contact with Pakistan 's ISI 2 Allegations of connection to ' The West ' or to the United States ( CIA ) 3 Emergence in Afghanistan 4 Consolidation of power 4.1 Treatment of women 4.2 Prohibitions on culture 4.2. 1 Buddhas of Bamiyan 4.3 Ethnic massacres and persecution 4.4 Conscription 5 See also 6 Bibliography 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 External links 9.1 Status of women Contact with Pakistan 's ISI During the power vacuum created by the Soviet troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989, the country was torn apart by warring mujahideen groups and the ISI of Pakistan grasped the chance to wield power in the region by fostering a previously unknown Kandahari student movement. They continued to support the Taliban, as Pakistani allies, in their push to conquer Afghanistan in the 1990s. Taliban initially enjoyed enormous good will from Afghans weary of the corruption, brutality, and the incessant fighting of Mujahideen warlords. One story is that the rape and murder of boys and girls from a family traveling to Kandahar or a similar outrage by Mujahideen bandits sparked Mohammed Omar ( Mullah Omar ) and his students to vow to rid Afghanistan of these criminals. Another motivation was that the Pakistan - based truck shipping mafia known as the `` Afghanistan Transit Trade '' and their allies in the Pakistan government, trained, armed, and financed the Taliban to clear the southern road across Afghanistan to the Central Asian Republics of extortionate bandit gangs. Many senior leaders of the Afghanistan Taliban were closely associated with and had attended the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary in Akora Khattak in Pakistan, including Mullah Omar, and its role in supporting the Taliban. The seminary is run by Maulana Sami ul Haq of the Jamiat Ulema - e-Islam who is often referred to as the `` Father of the Taliban ''. Allegations of connection to ' the West ' or to the United states ( CIA ) See also : Allegations of CIA assistance to Osama bin Laden After the Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan in 1979, Islamic mujahideen fighters engaged in war with those soviet forces. Some of those Islamic fighters would later transform into the Taliban according to Professor Carole Hillenbrand who stated : `` The West helped the Taliban to fight the Soviet takeover of Afghanistan ''. Although there is n't any evidence that the CIA directly supported the Taliban or Al Qaeda, some basis for military support of the Taliban was provided when, in the early 1980s, the CIA and the ISI ( Pakistan 's Inter-Services Intelligence agency ) provided arms to Afghans resisting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the ISI assisted the process of gathering radical Muslims from around the world to fight against the Soviets. Osama Bin Laden was one of the key players in organizing training camps for the foreign Arab volunteers, although his organization, Maktab al - Khidamat, was exclusively Saudi funded. The Taliban were based in the Helmand, Kandahar, and Uruzgan regions and were overwhelmingly ethnic Pashtuns and predominantly Durrani Pashtuns. Emergence in Afghanistan The first major military activity of the Taliban was in October -- November 1994 when they marched from Maiwand in southern Afghanistan to capture Kandahar City and the surrounding provinces, losing only a few dozen men. Starting with the capture of a border crossing and a huge ammunition dump from warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a few weeks later they freed `` a convoy trying to open a trade route from Pakistan to Central Asia '' from another group of warlords attempting to extort money. In the next three months this hitherto `` unknown force '' took control of twelve of Afghanistan 's 34 provinces, with Mujahideen warlords often surrendering to them without a fight and the `` heavily armed population '' giving up their weapons. By September 1996 they had captured Afghanistan 's capital, Kabul. Consolidation of power Under the Taliban regime, Sharia law was interpreted to ban a wide variety of activities hitherto lawful in Afghanistan : employment, education and sports for women, movies, television, videos, music, dancing, hanging pictures in homes, clapping during sports events, kite flying, and beard trimming. One Taliban list of prohibitions included : pork, pig, pig oil, anything made from human hair, satellite dishes, cinematography, and equipment that produces the joy of music, pool tables, chess, masks, alcohol, tapes, computers, VCRs, television, anything that propagates sex and is full of music, wine, lobster, nail polish, firecrackers, statues, sewing catalogs, pictures, Christmas cards. Wikiquote has quotations related to : religious police Men were required to have a beard extending farther than a fist clamped at the base of the chin. On the other hand, they had to wear their head hair short. Men were also required to wear a head covering. Possession was forbidden of depictions of living things, whether drawings, paintings or photographs, stuffed animals, and dolls. These rules were issued by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Suppression of Vice ( PVSV ) and enforced by its `` religious police, '' a concept thought to be borrowed from the Wahhabis. In newly conquered towns hundreds of religious police beat offenders ( typically men without beards and women who were not wearing their burqas properly ) with long sticks. Theft was punished by the amputation of a hand, rape and murder by public execution. Married adulterers were stoned to death. In Kabul, punishments were carried out in front of crowds in the city 's former soccer stadium. Treatment of women Main article : Taliban treatment of women A member of the Taliban 's religious police beating a woman in Kabul on 13 September 2001. The footage, which was filmed by RAWA. Women in particular were targets of the Taliban 's restrictions. They were prohibited from working ; from wearing clothing regarded as `` stimulating and attractive, '' including the `` Iranian chador, '' ( viewed as insufficiently complete in its covering ) ; from taking a taxi without a `` close male relative '' ( mahram ) ; washing clothes in streams ; or having their measurements taken by tailors. Employment of women was restricted to the medical sector because male medical personnel were not allowed to examine women. One result of the Taliban 's ban on employment of women was the closing down of many primary schools, in places such as Kabul, not only for girls but for boys too, because almost all the teachers there were women. Women were also not permitted to attend co-educational schools ; in practice, this prevented the vast majority of young women and girls in Afghanistan from receiving even a primary education. Women were made to wear the burqa, a traditional dress covering the entire body, with a small screen covering the face through which the wearer could see. Taliban restrictions became more severe after they took control of the capital. In February 1998, religious police forced all women off the streets of Kabul and issued new regulations ordering `` householders to blacken their windows, so women would not be visible from the outside. '' Home schools for girls, which had been allowed to continue, were forbidden. In June 1998, the Taliban stopped all women from attending general hospitals, leaving the use of one all - women hospital in Kabul. There were many reports of Muslim women being beaten by the Taliban for violating the Taliban interpretation of the Sharia. Prohibitions on culture Movie theaters were closed and music was banned. Hundreds of cultural artifacts that were deemed polytheistic were also destroyed including a major museum and countless private art collections. A sample Taliban edict issued after their capture of Kabul is one decreed in December 1996 by the `` General Presidency of Amr Bil Maruf and Nahi Anil Munkar '' ( or Religious Police ) banning a variety of things and activities : music, shaving of beards, keeping of pigeons, flying kites, displaying of pictures or portraits, western hairstyles, music and dancing at weddings, gambling, `` sorcery, '' and not praying at prayer times. In February 2001, Taliban used sledgehammers to destroy representational works of art at the National Museum of Afghanistan. Local festivities were not exempt from prohibitions. The Taliban banned the traditional Afghan New Year 's celebrations and `` for a time they also banned ( Ashura ) the Shia Islamic month of mourning and even restricted any show of festivity at Eid. '' The Afghan people were not allowed to have any cultural celebrations if women were present. If there were only men at the celebration it would be allowed, so long as it ended by 7 : 00 p.m, a set time. Many Taliban officials wanted to give entertain or said they did but they wanted it to be set by them and guided by the holy religion. Buddhas of Bamiyan Main article : Buddhas of Bamiyan In March 2001, the Taliban ordered the demolition of two statues of Buddhas carved into cliffsides at Bamiyan, one 38 metres ( 125 ft ) tall and carved in 507 CE, the other 53 metres ( 174 ft ) tall and carved in 554 CE. The act was condemned by UNESCO and many countries around the world. The intentions of the destruction remain unclear. Mullah Omar initially supported the preservation of Afghanistan 's heritage, and Japan linked financial aid to the preservation of the statues. However, after a few years, a decree was issued claiming all representations of humans and idols, including those in museums, must be destroyed in accordance with Islamic law which prohibits any form of idol worship. The government of Pakistan ( itself host to one of the richest and most ancient collections of Buddhist art ) implored the Taliban to spare the statues. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates later denounced the act as savage. Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, a senior representative of the Taliban designated as the roving Ambassador, visited the US in March, 2001. He portrayed the Taliban 's action not as an act of irrationality, but as an act of rage over UNESCO and some western governments denying the Taliban use of the funds meant for the repairs of the war - damaged statues of the Buddha. He contended that the Taliban intended to use the money for drought relief. However, the Taliban spent much money and effort on destroying the statues, resources which they could have instead used for drought relief. Ethnic massacres and persecution The worst attack on civilians came in summer of 1998 when the Taliban swept north from Herat to the predominantly Hazara and Uzbek city of Mazar - i - Sharif, the largest city in the north. Entering at 10 am on 8 August 1998, for the next two days the Taliban drove their pickup trucks `` up and down the narrow streets of Mazar - i - Sharif shooting to the left and right and killing everything that moved -- shop owners, cart pullers, women and children shoppers and even goats and donkeys. '' More than 8000 noncombatants were reported killed in Mazar - i - Sharif and later in Bamiyan. Contrary to the injunctions of Islam, which demands immediate burial, the Taliban forbade anyone to bury the corpses for the first six days while they rotted in the summer heat and were eaten by dogs. In addition to this indiscriminate slaughter, the Taliban sought out and massacred members of the Hazara, a mostly Shia ethnic group, while in control of Mazar - i - Sharif. While the slaughter can be attributed to several factors -- ethnic difference, suspicion of Hazara loyalty to their co-religionists in Iran, fury at the loss of life suffered in an earlier unsuccessful Taliban takeover of Mazar -- the belief by some Sunni Taliban that the Shia Hazaras were guilty of takfir ( apostasy ) may have been the principal motivation. It was expressed by Mullah Niazi, the commander of the attack and governor of Mazar after the attack, in his declaration from Mazar 's central mosque : `` Last year you rebelled against us and killed us. From all your homes you shot at us. Now we are here to deal with you. The Hazaras are not Muslims and now we have to kill Hazaras. You either accept to be Muslims or leave Afghanistan. Wherever you go we will catch you. If you go up we will pull you down by your feet ; if you hide below, we will pull you up by your hair. '' Hazara also suffered a siege by the Taliban of their Hazarajat homeland in central Afghanistan and the refusal by the Taliban to allow the UN to supply food to Hazara in the provinces of Bamiyan, Ghor, Wardak and Ghazni. A month after the Mazar slaughter, Taliban broke through Hazar lines and took over Hazarajat. The number of civilians killed was not as great as in Mazar, but occurred nevertheless. During the years that followed, massacres of Hazara by Taliban forces were documented by groups such as Human Rights Watch. Conscription Main article : Taliban conscription According to the testimony of Guantanamo captives before their Combatant Status Review Tribunals, the Taliban, in addition to conscripting men to serve as soldiers, also conscripted men to staff its civil service. See also Talibanization Northern Alliance Bibliography Hillenbrand, Carole ( 2015 ), Islam : A New Historical Introduction, London : Thames & Hudson Ltd, ISBN 978 - 0 - 500 - 11027 - 0 References Jump up ^ Julian West ( 23 Sep 2001 ). `` Pakistan 's godfathers of the Taliban hold the key to the hunt for Bin Laden ''. London : Daily Telegraph. Jump up ^ Carlotta Gall ( 3 March 2010 ). `` Former Pakistani officer embodies policy puzzle ''. New York Times. Jump up ^ Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim world / editor in chief, Richard C. Martin, Macmillan Reference USA : Thomson / Gale, c2004 Jump up ^ Matinuddin, Kamal, The Taliban Phenomenon, Afghanistan 1994 - 1997, Oxford University Press, ( 1999 ), pp. 25 -- 6 Jump up ^ Rashid, Taliban ( 2000 ), 25 - 29. ^ Jump up to : The Father of the Taliban : An Interview with Maulana Sami ul - Haq, Imtiaz Ali, Spotlight on Terror, The Jamestown Foundation, Volume 4, Issue 2, May 23, 2007 Jump up ^ The ' university of holy war ', Haroon Rashid, BBC Online, 2 October 2003 Jump up ^ Inside Islam 's `` terror schools '', William Dalrymple, New Statesman, 28 March 2005 Jump up ^ Hillenbrand 2015, p. 284 Jump up ^ Fitchett, Joseph ( 26 September 2001 ). `` What About the Taliban 's Stingers ? ''. The International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2008 - 11 - 11. Jump up ^ `` Did the U.S. `` Create '' Osama bin Laden ? ``. U.S. Department of State. 2005 - 01 - 14. Archived from the original on March 10, 2005. Retrieved 2007 - 01 - 09. Jump up ^ `` Bergen : Bin Laden, CIA links hogwash ''. CNN.com. 2006 - 08 - 15. Retrieved 2007 - 01 - 09. Jump up ^ Rashid, Taliban ( 2000 ), p. 98 Jump up ^ Rashid, Taliban, ( 2000 ) pp. 27 -- 9 Jump up ^ `` The Taliban -- ''. Infoplease.com. Retrieved 2014 - 01 - 31. Jump up ^ Rashid, Taliban ( 2000 ), p. 1 Jump up ^ Amy Waldman, ` No TV, no Chess, No Kites : Taliban 's Code, from A to Z, ` New York Times, 22 November 2001 ^ Jump up to : `` US Country Report on Human Rights Practices - Afghanistan 2001 ''. State.gov. 2002 - 03 - 04. Retrieved 2014 - 01 - 31. Jump up ^ Rashid, Taliban ( 2000 ), p. 105 ^ Jump up to : Rashid, Taliban ( 2000 ), pp. 218 -- 9. See the full edict here : The Taliban In Their Own Words Jump up ^ Rashid, Taliban ( 2000 ), p. 106 Jump up ^ `` Taleban ' will kill school girls ' ''. BBC News. 26 December 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2010. Jump up ^ `` Taliban Threatening girls again ''. YouTube. 2009 - 01 - 27. Retrieved 2014 - 01 - 31. Jump up ^ Rashid, Taliban ( 2000 ) p. 70 Jump up ^ Rashid, Taliban ( 2000 ), p. 114 Jump up ^ Rashid, Taliban ( 2000 ), p. 71. Jump up ^ Wright, Looming Towers ( 2006 ), p. 231 Jump up ^ Wright, Looming Towers ( 2006 ), p. 337. Jump up ^ Rashid, Taliban, ( 2000 ), pp. 115 -- 116. Jump up ^ `` Pakistan and Japan plead for Afghan statues ''. CNN.com. 2001 - 03 - 09. Retrieved 2007 - 01 - 20. Jump up ^ Transcript Archived October 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ Rashid, Taliban ( 2000 ), p. 73. Jump up ^ Goodson, Afghanistan 's Endless War, ( 2001 ), p. 79. Jump up ^ THE MASSACRE IN MAZAR - I SHARIF, THE FIRST DAY OF THE TAKEOVER. Jump up ^ `` Human Rights Watch Report, ` Afghanistan, the massacre in Mazar - e-Sharif `, November 1998. INCITEMENT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST HAZARAS BY GOVERNOR NIAZI ''. Hrw.org. Retrieved 2014 - 01 - 31. Jump up ^ Rashid, Taliban ( 2000 ), p. 68 Jump up ^ Rashid, Taliban ( 2000 ), p. 76. Jump up ^ `` Afghanistan ''. Hrw.org. Retrieved 2014 - 02 - 05. Bibliography Rashid, Ahmed ( 2000 ). Taliban : Militant Islam, Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. ISBN 0 - 300 - 08340 - 8., republished by Pan Books with the title Taliban : The story of the Afghan warlords : including a new foreword following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, ISBN 0 - 330 - 49221 - 7. Page citations are to the Pan Books edition. Goodson, Larry ( 2001 ). Afghanistan 's Endless War. University of Washington Press. ISBN 0 - 295 - 98050 - 8. Hosseini, Khaled ( 2001 ). The Kite Runner. Riverhead Books. ISBN 1 - 57322 - 245 - 3. Berman, Eli ( 2009 ). Radical, religious, and violent : the new economics of terrorism. MIT Press. p. 132. ISBN 978 - 0 - 262 - 02640 - 6. External links CNN In - Depth Specials -- Afghanistan under the Taliban US Country Report on Human Rights Practices -- Afghanistan 2001 Status of women Feminist Majority Foundation -- The Taliban & Afghan Women : Background Prostitution Under the rule of Taliban -- 1999 RAWA report on prostitution Taliban Leadership Amir al - Mu'minin Mohammed Omar Akhtar Mansour Hibatullah Akhundzada Heads of the Supreme Council Mohammad Rabbani Abdul Kabir Abdul Ghani Baradar Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil Obaidullah Akhund Qari Ahmadullah Sirajuddin Haqqani Government Rise to Power Destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan Treatment of Women Religious Police Propaganda Jirga Flag Emblem Motto Commanders Mullah Shahzada Mullah Dadullah Akhund Mullah Zakir Military Insurgency 55th Arab Brigade Conscription Conflicts Civil War ( 1996 -- 2001 ) Fall of Kabul ( 2001 ) War in Afghanistan ( 2001 -- present ) War in North - West Pakistan ( 2004 -- present ) Related topics Guest house Quetta Shura Haqqani network Tehrik - i - Taliban Pakistan Guantanamo detainees Islamic state Islamism Islamic law Theocracy Talibanization Waziristan Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Taliban%27s_rise_to_power&oldid=801555616 '' Categories : Modern Afghanistan Islamism Taliban Religion timelines Timelines of military conflicts since 1945 Political timelines History of Afghanistan ( 1992 -- present ) Hidden categories : All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from October 2010 Webarchive template wayback links All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from September 2008 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 20 September 2017, at 11 : 40. 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Question: when did the taliban first take over afghanistan
Answer: September 1996