Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan ( Pashto : د افغانستان اسلامي امارات , " Da Afghanistan Islami Amarat " ) was established in 1996 when the Taliban began their rule of Afghanistan and ended with their fall from power in 2001 . Even at the peak of their influence , the Taliban did not control the entirety of Afghanistan , as about 10 % of the country in the northeast was held by the Northern Alliance . History . The Taliban and its rule arose from the chaos of post - Soviet Afghanistan . It began as an Islamic fundamentalist politico - religious movement composed of madrasa students in southern Afghanistan . Overwhelmingly ethnic Pashtuns , the Taliban blended Pashtunwali tribal code with elements of Deobandi Islamic teaching to form an anti - Western and anti - modern Islamic ideology with which it ruled . It began to receive support from neighboring Pakistan as well as from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) . In the meantime , countries like the United States and others were watching from a distance and hoping that this new movement would end the Afghan civil war . Spreading from Kandahar , the Taliban eventually seized Kabul in 1996 . By the end of 2000 , the Taliban were able to capture 90 % of the country , aside from the opposition ( Northern Alliance ) strongholds primarily found in the northeast corner of Badakhshan Province . The Taliban sought to impose a strict interpretation of Islamic " Sharia law " and were later implicated as supporters of mujahideen , most notably by harbouring Osama bin Laden ' s Al - Qaeda network . During the five - year history of the Islamic Emirate , much of the population experienced restrictions on their freedom and violations of their human rights . Women were banned from jobs , and girls were forbidden to attend schools or universities and were requested to observe purdah and to abstain from obscenities . Those who resisted were punished . Communists were systematically executed and thieves were punished by amputating one of their hands or feet . Meanwhile , the Taliban succeeded in nearly eradicating the majority of the opium production by 2001 . Following the Taliban ' s unappeasing treatment of Afghanistan ' s Shia minority , Iran stepped up assistance to the Northern Alliance . Relations with the Taliban deteriorated further in 1998 after Taliban forces seized the Iranian consulate in Mazar - i - Sharif and executed Iranian diplomats . Following this incident , Iran threatened to invade Afghanistan by massing up military forces near the Afghan border but intervention by the United Nations Security Council and the United States prevented the war . The Taliban maintained a military during their period of control . The Taliban army possessed over 400 T - 54 / 55 and T - 62 tanks and more than 200 Armoured personal carriers . The Afghan Air Force under the Taliban maintained five supersonic MIG - 21MF s and 10 Sukhoi - 22 fighter - bombers . In 1995 , during the 1995 Airstan incident , a Taliban fighter plane captured a Russian transport . They also held six Mil Mi - 8 helicopters , five Mi - 35 s , five L - 39C s , six An - 12 s , 25 An - 26 s , a dozen An - 24 / 32s , an IL - 18 , and a Yakovlev . Their civil air service contained two Boeing 727A / Bs , a Tu - 154 , five An - 24 s , and a DHC - 6 . International relations . Only Pakistan , Saudi Arabia , and the United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) recognized the Taliban government . The state was not recognised in the UN . Turkmenistan , however , was known to have held official meetings and agreements with Taliban government ministers . One reason for lack of international recognition was the Taliban ' s disregard for human rights and the rule of law as demonstrated by their actions on taking power . One of the first acts of the Taliban upon seizing power was the execution of the former Communist President of Afghanistan , Mohammad Najibullah . Before the Taliban had even taken control of Afghanistan ' s capital they sent out a squad to arrest Najibullah . As Najibullah was staying in the United Nations compound in Kabul , this was a violation of international law . As a further example , the Taliban regime was also heavily criticised for the murder of Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan in 1998 . The Taliban supported the Islamic militants operating in Chechnya , Kashmir , and Xinjiang , thus antagonizing Russia , India , and the People ' s Republic of China simultaneously . In 2013 , the Taliban opened an office in Qatar . The goal of this office was to begin talks between the United States , the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban . There was a conflict after the office raised the white flag of the former Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan , with U . S . Secretary of State John Kerry saying that the office could be closed if there was not a " move forward " in peace negotiations . Sanctions . On 15 October 1999 , the UN Security Council established a sanctions regime to cover individuals and entities associated with Al - Qaeda , Osama bin Laden and / or the Taliban . Since the U . S . Invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 , the sanctions were applied to individuals and organizations in all parts of the world ; also targeting former members of the Taliban government . On January 27 , 2010 , a United Nations sanctions committee removed five former senior Taliban officials from this list , in a move favoured by Afghan President Karzai . The decision means the five will no longer be subject to an international travel ban , assets freeze and arms embargo . The five men , all high - ranking members of the Taliban government : All had been added to the list in January or February 2001 . Mohammed Omar continues to speak in the name of this Emirate .