The Taliban (Pashto: طالبان, “students”) is an Islamic fundamentalist political and military organization that has governed Afghanistan twice: first from 1996 to 2001, and again from August 2021 to the present following the collapse of the U.S.-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Founded in the early 1990s in the Kandahar region by Mullah Mohammad Omar and other veterans of the Soviet-Afghan War, the movement draws its ideology from a combination of Deobandi Islamic jurisprudence and Pashtun customary law (Pashtunwali). The Taliban's governance, foreign policy, and relationship with international terrorist organizations - particularly al-Qaeda - have made it a central subject of debate in international relations, counterterrorism policy, and human rights discourse.

The Taliban emerged from the madrassa networks of Pakistan and Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 and the subsequent Afghan Civil War. Pakistan's support for the Taliban - through intelligence services, sanctuary, and financing - is a major subject of scholarly and policy debate; see Taliban - Pakistan Role Viewpoint-viewpoint. The group seized Kabul in September 1996, imposing a strict interpretation of sharia law that included bans on women's education and employment, public executions, and the destruction of pre-Islamic cultural artifacts, most notably the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001. The United States and a coalition of allies toppled the Taliban government in late 2001 following the September 11 attacks, after the Taliban refused to extradite al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The group reconstituted as an insurgency, fighting NATO and Afghan government forces for nearly two decades before the withdrawal of U.S. forces and the fall of Kabul in August 2021. For a fuller account, see Taliban - History and United States - History.

Since retaking power in 2021, the Taliban has governed Afghanistan as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, a designation no UN member state had formally recognized as of 2025.(1) The ruling Supreme Leader, currently Haibatullah Akhundzada, operates from Kandahar and has consolidated clerical authority over government functions. The Taliban has reimposed severe restrictions on women, banning girls from education beyond primary school, prohibiting women from most employment, and restricting freedom of movement. International humanitarian organizations report severe food insecurity, economic contraction, and a public health crisis compounded by the suspension of most foreign aid. The Taliban has sought diplomatic engagement with China, Russia, Iran, and Gulf states, while remaining internationally isolated from Western governments.

The Taliban's relationship with al-Qaeda and other designated terrorist organizations remains a subject of active dispute. A 2022 UN Monitoring Team report found ongoing operational ties between the Taliban and al-Qaeda despite Taliban assurances to the contrary made in the 2020 Doha Agreement with the United States.

There is broad scholarly and governmental consensus that the Taliban enforces gender apartheid as a matter of policy, a designation applied by the United Nations and multiple human rights bodies. See Taliban - Human Rights Consensus.

Major interpretive and policy disagreements surround the Taliban across several axes:

• Legitimacy of governance: Some analysts argue the Taliban represents a coherent, if repressive, sovereign government with which pragmatic engagement is necessary; others hold that its systematic human rights abuses and terrorist affiliations preclude legitimate recognition. See Taliban - Recognition Viewpoint.

• Western intervention and withdrawal: Debate persists over whether the 2001 invasion, the subsequent nation-building project, and the 2021 withdrawal were strategically sound or morally justified. See Taliban - Withdrawal Viewpoint and Taliban - Debate.

• Islam and Taliban ideology: Scholars and Muslim commentators dispute whether Taliban governance represents a legitimate expression of Islamic law or a culturally specific distortion of it. See Taliban - Islam Viewpoint.

• Women's rights and engagement strategy: Humanitarian and diplomatic actors disagree over whether conditional engagement can produce improvements in women's conditions or whether it legitimizes the regime. Debate also continues over whether engagement or isolation constitutes the more effective policy response. See Taliban - Women's Rights Viewpoint.

• Pakistan's role: The extent and nature of Pakistani state support for the Taliban - historically and under the current emirate - is disputed among scholars, governments, and regional analysts. See Taliban - Pakistan Role Viewpoint-viewpoint.

• Taliban - History
• Taliban - Debate
• Taliban - Human Rights Consensus
• Taliban - Recognition Viewpoint
• Taliban - Withdrawal Viewpoint
• Taliban - Islam Viewpoint
• Taliban - Women's Rights Viewpoint
• Taliban - Pakistan Role Viewpoint-viewpoint
• Afghanistan
• Al-Qaeda
• September 11 Attacks
• United States - History
• War in Afghanistan (2001-2021)
• Doha Agreement

1. United Nations Security Council. Twenty-ninth report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team. S/2022/547. July 2022.
2. Rashid, Ahmed. Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia. Yale University Press, 2000.
3. Human Rights Watch. “Afghanistan: Taliban Intensify Restrictions on Women.” January 2023.
4. United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Afghanistan Annual Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict. 2022.
5. Crews, Robert D., and Amin Tarzi, eds. The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan. Harvard University Press, 2008.