History of the Taliban

The Taliban was formed in Kandahar in September 1994 during the Second Afghan Civil War (1992–1996) under the leadership of Umar Mujahid. With the support of Pakistan, the Taliban captured Kandahar from the forces of Naqibullah Akhund in November 1994 and proceeded to seize all of southern Afghanistan by September 1995. In the spring of 1996, the Taliban held a meeting of over a thousand religious clerics, in the course of which Mujahid was declared the Amir al-Mu'minin ("commander of the believers") and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was declared. Although initially dominated by ethnic Pashtuns, the Taliban began recruiting Tajiks and Uzbeks into its ranks in order to seize northern regions of Afghanistan. After the Taliban seized Kabul in 1996, their principal opponent Ahmad Shah Massoud founded the Northern Alliance to resist the Taliban, triggering the Third Afghan Civil War (1996–2001).

During their rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban implemented a strict interpretation of Sharia law, under which women's rights were restricted, forms of art such as photography, paintings, movies, television and music were banned, a cultural genocide was carried out among other severe regulations. The Taliban's Islamic Emirate was recognized only by three countries, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates while the Northern Alliance-led Islamic State of Afghanistan was internationally recognized as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. After the United States-led invasion in 2001, the Taliban were ousted from power and most of their leadership fled to Pakistan.

By 2002, the Taliban began regrouping in parts of Pakistan, especially in the city of Quetta where formed its leadership formed the so-called "Quetta Shura" while Taliban groups in Afghanistan operated without the leadership. In 2004, they launched an insurgency and began conducting guerilla attacks against the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and coalition forces. After the successful 2006 offensive, the Taliban regained a considerable amount of territory in southeastern and southwestern provinces where they re-established their own administration based on Sharia law, operating independently from the Afghan government. Following Mujahid's death in 2013, his successor Akhtar Mansur was killed in a U.S. drone strike in the Balochistan province of Pakistan in 2016. The Taliban and the United States signed the Doha Accord in 2020, under which the U.S. agreed to withdrew all its troops and NATO troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban pledge to not attack U.S. forces and prevent al-Qaeda from operating in areas under Taliban control. Under the command of Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban launched its 2021 offensive, which concluded with the fall of Kabul on 15 August. This also marked the start of the Republican insurgency against the Taliban.

As of 2026, the Taliban's re-established Islamic Emirate is only recognized by Russia and remains unrecognized by the international community. It has re-introduced many of its former strict policies, such as restricting women's education above the 6th grade and mandatory veiling; albeit, the emirate has toned down on violence.