The Enduring Battle: Unraveling The Taliban-Afghanistan Conflict

The Taliban is an Islamic fundamentalist group that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. In October 2001, US and allied forces invaded the country and quickly ousted the Taliban regime following its refusal to hand over terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in the wake of al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks. Following the US-led invasion, Taliban leadership relocated to southern Afghanistan and across the border to Pakistan, from where they waged an insurgency against the Western-backed government in Kabul, Afghan national security forces, and international coalition troops.

The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, twenty years after their ouster by US troops. Under their harsh rule, they have cracked down on women's rights and neglected basic services. The Taliban's harsh interpretation of Islamic law has resulted in brutal treatment of many Afghans. During their rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban enforced a strict interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law, and were widely condemned for massacres against Afghan civilians, harsh discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities, denial of UN food supplies to starving civilians, destruction of cultural monuments, banning women from school and most employment, and prohibition of most music.

The Taliban's relationship with al-Qaeda

The Taliban and al-Qaeda have a long history of cooperation, with al-Qaeda having been hosted by the Taliban in Afghanistan since the 1990s. The Taliban's relationship with al-Qaeda has been a source of concern for the US, which invaded Afghanistan following al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks on the US.

The Taliban and al-Qaeda have maintained close ties, with al-Qaeda members reportedly intermarrying with Pashtun tribes in Taliban-controlled areas and the two groups sharing familial ties. The Taliban has provided al-Qaeda with protection and resources, with al-Qaeda paying the Taliban up to $20 million a year for its haven in Afghanistan.

The Taliban has attempted to distance itself from al-Qaeda in recent years, with the Taliban's political office in Qatar stating in 2018 that there were no members of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and that the last al-Qaeda fighters had left the country around the time of the Arab Spring. However, the UN and US sources have disputed these claims, with a 2021 UN report stating that there were 200 to 500 al-Qaeda fighters across about 11 Afghan provinces.

The Taliban's 2020 agreement with the US, which led to the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan, included a pledge from the Taliban to prevent al-Qaeda and other militants from operating in areas that the Taliban controlled. However, there are concerns that the Taliban will not uphold this agreement, with the head of a UN panel tracking terrorist groups in Afghanistan stating that he believed the top leadership of al-Qaeda was still under Taliban protection.

Despite the Taliban's pledges to the US and the practical challenges of maintaining their relationship, the Taliban is unlikely to expel al-Qaeda from Afghanistan. The Taliban remains sympathetic to al-Qaeda, and some US interlocutors have noted that the Taliban consistently resisted moving against al-Qaeda during negotiations. The Taliban's long history of cooperation with al-Qaeda, as well as ideological and familial ties, make it difficult to untangle the two groups.

The Taliban's treatment of women

Education

The Taliban have banned girls from attending secondary school and university. They have also prohibited boys and girls from receiving a co-education. In some provinces, girls are still allowed to attend secondary school, despite a nationwide ban. However, the knowledge that secondary school is closed in many places has affected primary school attendance, and girls in grade 6 are worried about their future.

Employment

The Taliban have barred women from working in most sectors. Women are banned from working in government offices, NGOs, and decision-making or managerial positions. They are also barred from running certain businesses, such as bakeries.

Freedom of Movement

The Taliban have imposed restrictions on women's freedom of movement, including banning them from travelling outside the country or more than 45 miles (72km) without a male chaperone, or "mahram". They have also banned women from entering public parks, public baths, and historic places.

Dress Code

The Taliban have mandated that women wear a burqa or an Arab-style hijab when outside their homes. They have also issued other dress code requirements, such as prohibiting women from wearing high-heeled shoes.

Access to Services

The Taliban's restrictions have limited women's access to routine and emergency healthcare, with dire consequences for their health and sexual and reproductive rights. Women are only allowed to be treated by male doctors if they are accompanied by a male chaperone. The Taliban have also banned women from accessing gyms.

Mental Health

The suffocating environment created by the Taliban's restrictions has taken a toll on the mental health of women and girls, with widespread reports of depression and suicide, especially among adolescent girls prevented from pursuing education.

Domestic Violence

The Taliban's treatment of ethnic minorities

Shi'ite Muslims, who make up approximately 15% of Afghanistan's 40 million people, are mostly ethnic Hazaras, some Tajiks, and a few Pashtuns. During the Taliban's first regime in the 1990s, there were brutal attacks on minority groups and women. Between 1996 and 1997, for example, the Taliban massacred over 2,000 Hazara people in Kabul and Bamiyan. They also carried out a similar massacre and forced migration of Tajiks from the north Kabul (Shamali) valleys. In 1998, the Taliban committed another brutal genocidal attack on Hazaras in Mazar-e-Sharif, where more than 5,000 Hazara and Shiite minority members were killed in 48 hours of continuous attacks on their homes.

Since the Taliban's return to power in 2021, these minority groups and women leaders have experienced increased levels of public discrimination and have been subject to kidnapping, gang rapes, imprisonment, physical and psychological harm, defamation, house searches, arbitrary arrest, torture, and physical threats and violence against their family members.

The Taliban have excluded women from all public roles and restricted girls' education beyond grade six. They have also banned Sikhs and Hindus from celebrating religious holidays in public, forcing many to flee the country.

The Taliban have also been accused of extra-judicial killings of minority groups across the country, particularly the Hazaras and Tajiks.

In addition to the persecution of Shi'ites, the Taliban have also targeted other ethnic minorities for recruitment. Disenfranchised communities of ethnic Tajiks, Turkmen, and Uzbeks have joined the Taliban in the country's north, allowing the group to seize territory outside of its traditional power base in Pashtun-majority areas.

The Taliban's treatment of journalists and the media

Since the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan, journalists and media workers have faced violence, threats, and intimidation. The Taliban have imposed a series of rules and restrictions on journalists, which have led to self-censorship and the closure of many media outlets.

The Taliban's rules for journalists include directives against publishing topics that are in conflict with Islam or insulting to national personalities, and instructions to produce news reports in coordination with the government media office. These rules have been criticised by press freedom organisations, who argue that they open the door for censorship and repression.

The situation facing journalists in Afghanistan is particularly difficult outside of Kabul, with journalists in the provinces reporting that Taliban members threaten, detain, and beat them. Many journalists have felt compelled to self-censor and only report Taliban statements and official events.

The Taliban's treatment of the Hazara Shia

During the Taliban's rule from 1996 to 2001, several massacres were perpetrated against the Hazaras. In 1998, after taking control of Mazar-e-Sharif, the Taliban systematically massacred thousands of Shiite Hazaras. The Taliban methodically searched house-to-house for males of fighting age who belonged to the Hazara ethnic minority, gunning them down in front of their families or slitting their throats.

The Taliban's anti-Shiite and anti-Hazara rhetoric was evident in the speeches of Mullah Manon Niazi, the newly installed governor of Mazar. Niazi threatened violence against Hazaras, criticised them for being Shiite, and urged them to convert or leave Afghanistan. He stated, "Hazaras are not Muslim, they are Shiite. They are infidels... If you do not show your loyalty, we will burn your houses, and we will kill you."

The Taliban's discriminatory policies and actions towards the Hazara Shia have continued even after their recent return to power. In 2021, it was reported that Hazaras continued to face violations, including extortion, forced recruitment and labour, physical abuse, and detention. They have also been subjected to forced evictions, with Taliban officials in several provinces forcibly displacing Hazara families to distribute land to their supporters.

The Taliban have also been accused of cracking down on minority groups, including the Hazara Shia, as hard as they have on women. There have been targeted attacks on worshippers, and the Taliban cancelled the official public holiday of Ashura. The internet has been shut down in parts of Kabul, and flags, banners, and traditional activities have been destroyed.

The Taliban's refusal to include other ethnicities or religions in their regime and their extremist interpretation of Islam have tightened the dragnet on minorities like the Hazara Shia. The Taliban are introducing a system of community self-monitoring, where neighbours are encouraged to spy and report on one another, leading to extrajudicial detentions and killings.

The Hazara Shia's persecution is not limited to the Taliban, as they have faced discrimination and abuse by successive Afghan governments for over a century. They are historically the most discriminated-against ethnic minority group in Afghanistan and have long faced violence due to their religious faith. The Shiite minority, regardless of ethnicity, has faced long-term persecution from the majority Sunni population.

The Hazara Shia's plight is further exacerbated by the actions of other extremist groups like the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), which has carried out attacks targeting the community. The ISKP considers Shia Muslims to be apostates and, therefore, legitimate targets for killing.

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