Professional Documents
Culture Documents
WRITTEN BY
Lindsay Maizland
UPDATED
Last updated January 19, 2023 10:45 am (EST)
Summary
The Islamic fundamentalist group returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 after waging an
insurgency against the U.S.-backed government in Kabul since 2001.
Under Taliban rule, Afghanistan’s economy has floundered. Malnutrition has soared, and hundreds
of thousands of jobs have been lost. Most women have been banned from working.
The Taliban maintain close ties with al-Qaeda. Analysts are concerned that the Taliban could
provide it with safe haven and allow it to launch international terrorist attacks from Afghan soil.
Introduction
The Taliban are a predominantly Pashtun, Islamic fundamentalist group that returned
to power in Afghanistan in 2021 after waging a twenty-year insurgency.
Following the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the original regime in 2001, the Taliban
regrouped across the border in Pakistan and began taking back territory less than ten
years after their ouster. By August 2021, the Taliban had swept back into power. Their
swift offensive came as the United States withdrew its remaining troops from
Afghanistan as outlined in a 2020 peace agreement with the group.
The Taliban have imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law despite pledges to
respect the rights of women and religious and ethnic minority communities.
Meanwhile, as they have transitioned from an insurgent group to a functional
government, the Taliban have struggled to provide Afghans with adequate food supplies
and economic opportunities.
What has the Taliban’s return to power meant for the rights
of women and other Afghans?
The Taliban threaten Afghans’ civil and political rights enshrined in the constitution
created by the U.S.-backed government. Since regaining control, the Taliban have taken
actions reminiscent of their brutal rule in the late 1990s.
Women have seen their rights obliterated. The Taliban have prohibited most girls from
attending secondary school, banned all women from attending and teaching at
universities, and prevented women from working. In December 2022, the group
prohibited women from working at local and international nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs). The UN Development Program (UNDP) has estimated that
restricting women’s employment could cost up to 5 percent of Afghanistan’s gross
domestic product (GDP). Amnesty International has reported a drastic increase in the
number of women arrested for violating discriminatory policies, such as rules requiring
women to only appear in public with a male chaperone and to completely cover their
bodies. The rates of child marriage have also increased.
UZBEKISTAN
TURKMENISTAN CHINA
TAJIKISTAN
Kabul
IRAN AFGHANISTAN
PAKISTAN
0 250 km INDIA
0 250 mi
AFGHANISTAN AT A GLANCE
Area
652,230 square kilometers (slightly smaller
than Texas)
Population
38 million (2022)
Religions
Islam 99.7% (Sunni 85–90%, Shia 10–15%), other
0.3% (2009)
Official languages
Dari, Pashto
Life expectancy
54 years (2022)
GDP
$14.8 billion (2021)
The Taliban’s takeover has also wiped out gains in Afghans’ standards of living that were
made over the two decades after the U.S. invasion, according to the UNDP. In an
October 2022 report, the agency said that almost all Afghans were living in poverty. The
economy has shrunk by up to 30 percent since the takeover, and an estimated seven
hundred thousand jobs have been lost. More than 90 percent [PDF] of the population
has been suffering from some form of food insecurity. Exacerbating the crisis is a pause
in aid by some countries and international organizations, which had been the lifeline of
the economy and public health sector.
At the same time, the takeover brought an end to fighting that pitted Taliban fighters
against U.S. and Afghan government forces. The country’s overall security situation has
improved and civilian casualties have declined. However, violence remains widespread,
particularly as the Islamic State in Khorasan terrorist group has increased attacks on
civilians throughout the country.
In its April 2022 report, the UN team that monitors the Taliban said the group “remains
close” with al-Qaeda and that “al-Qaeda has a safe haven under the Taliban and
increased freedom of action.” Indeed, in August, a U.S. drone strike killed al-Qaeda
leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul. Reports suggested that Zawahiri was living in the
home of a Taliban aide, and other al-Qaeda leaders are believed to be based in the
country. The UN report said that al-Qaeda is likely using Afghanistan as a “friendly
environment” to recruit, train, and fundraise, although it is unlikely to launch an
international attack before 2023 at the earliest. Following Zawahiri’s killing, a leaked
U.S. assessment said that al-Qaeda has not reconstituted its presence in Afghanistan,
though some experts disagreed.
In addition, violence has increased along Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, which has
historically supported the Taliban. (Pakistan is thought to have provided financial and
logistical support to the Taliban during the U.S. war, though Islamabad denies this.) The
Taliban’s return to power has emboldened Tehrik-e-Taliban, a militant group sometimes
referred to as the Pakistani Taliban. In late 2022, the group ended a cease-fire with the
Pakistani government and launched attacks across the country. Pakistani officials have
accused the Afghan Taliban of providing the militants with a safe haven in Afghanistan.
Military force. U.S. troops quickly overthrew the Taliban after they invaded Afghanistan
in October 2001. The Taliban then waged an insurgency against the U.S.-backed Afghan
government. The group withstood counterinsurgency operations from the world’s most
powerful security alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and three
U.S. administrations over the course of a war that killed more than 6,000 U.S. troops
and contractors and over 1,100 NATO troops. Some 47,000 civilians died, and an
estimated 73,000 Afghan troops and police officers were killed between 2007 and 2021.
Tens of thousands of Taliban fighters are also believed to have died. The number of U.S.
troops in Afghanistan peaked at around 100,000 in 2011. NATO assumed leadership of
foreign forces in 2003, marking its first operational commitment outside of Europe. At
its height, NATO had more than 130,000 troops from fifty nations stationed in
Afghanistan. In the 2020 U.S.-Taliban agreement, the United States committed to
withdrawing all U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan if the Taliban carried out
commitments that included cutting ties with terrorist groups. The United States
completed its troop withdrawal in August 2021.
Sanctions. The UN Security Council first imposed sanctions on the regime for harboring
al-Qaeda in 1999 and expanded the sanctions after 9/11. They target Taliban leaders’
financial assets and ban them from most travel. The Security Council also imposed an
arms embargo on the Taliban. The United States and the European Union maintain
additional sanctions, which have hindered aid deliveries since the Taliban’s takeover.
Meanwhile, the United States has blocked the Taliban from accessing billions of dollars
in assets.
Aid. For years, the Afghan government depended on assistance from dozens of
countries; 75 percent of the government’s public expenditures were covered by grants
from international partners, according to a 2019 World Bank report. Many of these
countries suspended aid after the Taliban took over, sparking concerns of further
economic turmoil. But in 2022, aid picked up, with donors providing over $2.6 billion.
Since the takeover, the United States has provided more than $1.1 billion in aid. Still,
UN officials said the commitments fell short of the country’s humanitarian needs.
Diplomatic ties. Many Western countries, including the United States, shut down their
diplomatic offices in Afghanistan after the Taliban took over. They have refused to
recognize and establish diplomatic ties with the Taliban government, which calls the
country the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. (A handful of states, including China and
Russia, have accredited Taliban-selected diplomats.) In addition, the UN General
Assembly has indefinitely postponed a vote on who can represent Afghanistan at the
United Nations.
Investigation. The Taliban are now under investigation by the International Criminal
Court for alleged abuses of Afghan civilians, including crimes against humanity, carried
out since 2003. U.S. and Afghan forces are also being investigated for alleged war
crimes.
The movement attracted popular support in the initial post-Soviet era by promising to
impose stability and rule of law after four years of conflict (1992–96) among rival
mujahideen groups. The Taliban entered Kandahar in November 1994 to pacify the
crime-ridden southern city, and by September 1996 seized the capital, Kabul, from
President Burhanuddin Rabbani, an ethnic Tajik whom they viewed as anti-Pashtun and
corrupt. That year, the Taliban declared Afghanistan an Islamic emirate, with Mullah
Mohammed Omar, a cleric and veteran of the anti-Soviet resistance, leading as amir al-
mu’minin, or “commander of the faithful.” The regime controlled some 90 percent of the
country before its 2001 overthrow.
The Taliban imposed a harsh brand of justice as they consolidated territorial control.
Taliban jurisprudence was drawn from the Pashtuns’ pre-Islamic tribal code and
interpretations of sharia colored by the austere Wahhabi doctrines of the madrassas’
Saudi benefactors. The regime neglected social services and other basic state functions
even as the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice required
women to wear the head-to-toe burqa, or chadri; banned music and television; and
jailed men whose beards it deemed too short.
Prior to the takeover, the Taliban primarily earned revenue through criminal activities,
including opium poppy cultivation, drug trafficking, extortion of local businesses, and
kidnapping, according to the UN monitoring group. In 2021, Afghanistan accounted for
86 percent [PDF] of the world’s illicit opium production. However, in April 2022, the
Taliban banned poppy cultivation.
But in 2019, a response to the same survey found that only 13.4 percent of Afghans had
sympathy for the Taliban. As intra-Afghan peace talks stalled in early 2021, an
overwhelming majority surveyed said it was important to protect [PDF] women’s rights,
freedom of speech, and the constitution.
Amnesty International documents the degradation of women’s and girls’ rights under the Taliban.
The Long War Journal profiles the members of the Taliban’s interim cabinet.
CFR’s Max Boot explains why the United States has little influence in the Taliban’s Afghanistan.
Zachary Laub contributed to this Backgrounder. Will Merrow created the graphic.