The popular narrative, especially in the western media, suggests that the Taliban movement emerged out of nowhere in 1990s and it conquered Afghanistan within no time. A closer look, however, tells a different story. What is this story? We explore it with the help of the books written by Ahmed Rashid and James Fergusson on the subject.
The Origins
The term ‘Taliban’ is the plural of the Pashto word talib, which means an Islamic student. Literally speaking, ‘one who seeks knowledge.’ These students or Taliban have been a presence in Afghan village society for as long as there had been madrasahs – which is to say, since the earliest days of Islam. There had once been so many Islamic students at large, indeed, that they had created something of a social problem.
A British intelligence report written in 1901 described the ‘talib-ul-ilm’ as ‘men who contemplate following the religious profession. Their number far exceeds those required to fill up vacancies in village mullahships and other ecclesiastic appointments. They are at the bottom of all the mischief in the country, the instigators and often the perpetrators of the bulk of the crime. They use their religious status to live free on the people, who are too superstitious to turn them out, even when they destroy the peace of the family circle.’
The Cold-War Era
While fighting Soviets in Afghanistan, the United States, with the help of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, discovered that these men could be put to use to stop the enemy. In 1979, a jihad had been formally declared against the infidel communists. Thousands of Muslim men, from different parts of the world, considered it a duty to fight the jihad and took up arms. The enemy was defeated and pushed out of the country.
In late 1980s, most madrasah students who had participated in jihad were assimilated into units controlled by the established organisations, although some banded together to form their own platoonsized fighting groups. These groups were described, by both themselves and others, as ‘Taliban’ even then. They were easily distinguished by their turbans, in emulation of the headgear worn by descending angels who, according to the Quran, came to Prophet Muhammad’s rescue during one of his battles.
Chaos After the War
Afghanistan was in much worse state in 1994 than it is now. But the script seems similar. The Soviets were long gone – and the disparate ethnic and religious leaders, the famous mujahideen, were at each other’s throats now. In the first six months of 1994, over 25,000 civilians were killed in the vicious squabble for control of the capital city, Kabul.
With the collapse of central government, much of the countryside had fallen under the control of rapacious bandits. Rival gangs of armed men had slung chains across every road around Kandahar city, stopping the traffic to demand a “toll” before it could proceed. Some made money by selling opium. Some simply looted. By the spring of 1994, farmers, traders, in fact every single person was struggling in the face of a failing economy. There was chaos all around. The power vacuum was desperately seeking someone to take control. Then came the Taliban.
The Movement Begins
Later that year, some forty-fifty men gathered in Sangisar at a small, crumbling mu-brick building known as the White Mosque to discuss the foundation of what became known as ‘the Taliban Movement.’ Mullah Mohammed Omar agreed to be their commander and took a solemn oath of allegiance. At that time, there was no formal structure to the movement. Taliban simply meant what Omar and his followers decided.
To begin with, the Taliban’s ambitions stretched no further than the two districts close to their original checkpoint, Maiwand and Panjwayi. But in October that year, some 200 of them hid themselves in trucks and drove into the centre of Spin Boldak on the border of Pakistan, 60 miles east of Kandahar. Jumping out in front of the police station, they took control of the town in fifteen minutes. This was significant. The expansion had begun.
The local strongmen around Kandahar could see which way the wind was blowing. Switching allegiance to the stronger side was common practice in Afghanistan, a survival tactic learned over centuries in a region where war and internecine violence are the norm. Soon, the entire country was talkinh about the Taliban phenomenon. News of them had spread beyond borders as well.
On 1 January 1995, around 3,000 volunteers arrived from Peshawar to participate in this cause. Ordinary Afghans tended to speak in a whisper about these turbanned avengers. Some felt repulsion, but most felt relief that here, at last, was a group who looked like they might restore some semblance of social order. The proof of the public’s hunger for this was in the speed of the Taliban’s success. Within a year, this mullah revolt had become a national movement that controlled nine of the country’s thirty provinces. This was followed by more success in the successive years, until… 9/11 happened.
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