50 years ago, the Afghan capital, Kabul, was known as “the Paris of Central Asia” for its grandeur and beauty. 43 years ago, the Saur Revolution saw President Daoud Khan and his family killed and a new political regime established - the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). Around 30 years ago, civil wars broke out with millions of Afghans dying or exiled. 

A few weeks ago, on August 15, 2021, Taliban fighters advanced to Kabul and took power after the former Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, fled the country. The US started to accelerate its withdrawal of troops and Americans working in Afghanistan. In the aftermath of the Taliban takeover, a desperate scramble to escape took place at Kabul airport.

The 2021 crisis closely resonates with Afghanistan's recent history, where the underlying theme is the country's stability. Many political regimes were established with the hope to restore order - in whatever form - to the country, but almost every time when they fade away, they also leave behind more issues. Why is Afghanistan in this political situation? Who are the Taliban and what is their role in the recurrent turmoil in Afghanistan? 

The Taliban: From their beginning to their first takeover

In the Pashto language, “Taliban” means “students”. This is because many of the initial members of the Taliban group founded in 1994 were literally students in Madrassas - Islamic seminaries in Pakistan. However, they were no average students. They were the young male population of as many as 3.5 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, displaced by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan throughout the 1980s. For reasons such as escaping the boredom of refugee camps or benefitting from the free room, board and education in the school, many Afghan refugee boys enrolled in local Madrassas. These religious schools were supported by Pakistani right-wing Islamist parties and the Saudi Arabian puritanical and fundamentalist Wahhabi sect, which aims to restore “pure monotheistic worship”. Thus, a whole generation of Afghan boys grew up immersed in a culture of absolute obedience to Islamic law and trained in combat skills.

Perhaps few people at that time could expect that the return of the students would stir the Afghan society by bringing in puritanical religious fundamentalism. Indeed, extremist religious enthusiasm was not part of the traditional Afghan society but was imported from Pakistan and  Saudi Arabia. Following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan at the end of the 1980s, many students from religious schools came back to Afghanistan. During that period, they were united by the same religious pursuits and they promised to bring back security and order in accordance with Sharia law. Mullah Omar, a mujahid commander, led the Taliban and founded the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in the late 1990s. The group also received financial and military support from Pakistan, which helped them gain ground swiftly at their early stage. The Taliban expanded so rapidly that they seized power as soon as 1996, shocking the world. 

The first Taliban takeover had both supporters and opponents. It brought another powerful variant into play in the already turbulent Afghan political climate: the pursuit of religious orthodoxy. Many long-abandoned Islamic punishments were reintroduced by the Taliban, in line with their objective to restore God’s law as they see it. Foreign political forces or political opponents to the Taliban regime, such as the 2001 US coalition with Afghan Northern Alliance, have tried to drive the Taliban away. However, as the political scientist Liu Yu argues, the Taliban was not discouraged in their fight against heretical and secular regimes because of the ideological rigidity brought about by religious fundamentalism. While pure power struggles would still allow discussions on settlement, there is no negotiation possible in the either-or battlefield of faith.

The soil that cultivated the Taliban

Ever since the Taliban’s defeat to the US and Afghan Northern Alliance in 2001, the religious-political group has been on the hunt for chances of resurgence. During this period, it managed to sustain itself thanks to the help of multiple sources. Therefore, it seems only right to ask ourselves this question: What is the soil that has fuelled the Taliban movement and allowed them to grow stronger?

The mountainous geographical environment has played an important role. Traced far back to its history, Afghan politics have been greatly shaped by this geographical characteristic. A powerful central authority has always been hard to establish in the hilly area, while tribal politics featuring isolated small-grouped administrations have been popular for a long time. The Taliban benefited from the same geographical assets. After being defeated in 2001, they could still take cover in remote mountain land to recover their strength because it was difficult for their enemies to track them down and exterminate them.

Additionally, Pashtun people, an ethnic group that is a major constituent of the Taliban soldiers, as well as Pashtun ethnocentrism have also contributed to the growth of the Taliban. According to scholar Anatol Lieven, the Taliban was able to win Pashtuns’ support through combining customs highly regarded in Pashtun culture with the Taliban’s own religious ideas and other principles. The Taliban promised a superior position for the ethnic group under their rule. Moreover, the Pashtun belief “to follow the Pashtun way” means to rebel against foreign control over Afghanistan. It fully echoes with the Taliban’s attitude against Western troops. For such reasons, many Pashtuns have been supporting the Taliban by providing shelter and resources to them. Considering that the Pashtuns account for approximately 40 per cent of the Afghan population, their involvement with the Taliban and its significance can hardly be neglected.

Some other important forces standing behind the Taliban’s recovery are foreign political organisations. Afghanistan has long been a region for multiple competing foreign forces. They shaped Afghanistan’s political landscape according to their own national interests. As mentioned previously, Pakistan was a powerful ally to the Taliban in the movement’s early stages. For example, the country has some possible interests in supporting the religious-political group, one of which is to foster future guardsmen to guarantee the security of the oil trade route which passes through Afghanistan. Their support for the Taliban has become less explicit over the years, but may still be continuing. Other alliances can be organisations such as Islamist ground organizations, including Al-Qaeda. A similar ideology has strongly bound the Taliban and these groups together. In this sense, the Taliban is also a result of the meddling of multiple international forces.

Is the turbulence unstoppable?

The status quo in Afghanistan is undoubtedly a perplexity for both Afghans and the world alike. Although the Taliban has established a new regime, Afghanistan’s internal turmoil still continues. Millions of people are looking for ways out, and it has been reported that various anti-Taliban armed groups are also in action. For instance, the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF) has announced that they are to pursue peaceful negotiations before fighting.

There is still a long way to go before peace can descend on Afghanistan. Ethnocentrism is one of the country's major problems, complicated by the fact that Afghanistan is a multi-ethnic country. The surge of ethnocentrism can be dated back to the Soviet invasion during the 1980s. Indeed, it was then a powerful tool to unite the population and motivate them to fight against the Soviet army. However, this also threw Afghanistan into further chaos when the common enemy of the different ethnicities was driven away and the hostility between themselves began to grow in intensity. For instance, many people of the northern ethnicities are opponents to the Taliban soldiers, a large number of whom came from the Pashtun community in the south. The long-held tension between the Hazara people and Pashtuns, who belong to two conflicting religious subgroups Shia and Sunni respectively, is also a source of conflict.

There are all kinds of other concerns as well. For example, Afghanistan has long been a battlefield for proxy wars between international political forces. Will the situation be mitigated with the US’s withdrawal of its troops in Afghanistan? There is also a tension between people who support the extremist ideals of the Taliban and those who look forward to a life free from repression and oppression. How will this play out? 

At the moment, it still seems too early to say where the solutions lie and what direction Afghanistan will take.

Editors’ Note:

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