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KABUL: The emergence of the Taliban in the mid-1990s reshaped the political and social landscape of Afghanistan. What began as a movement of religious students seeking to restore order in a war-torn country quickly morphed into an uncompromising force that dominated the country for five years before being ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001. 

The origins of the Taliban can be traced to the discontent that followed the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 after a decade of conflict. As warlords and other factions vied for control, Afghanistan descended into lawlessness and violence. 

The power vacuum left by Russia’s departure led to intense infighting among former mujahideen groups, particularly between factions loyal to regional warlords such as Burhanuddin Rabbani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. 

In response to this anarchy, students from madrassas (Islamic religious schools), many of whom had fought in the anti-Soviet jihad, began organizing themselves as the “Taliban,” the Pashto word for “students,” under the leadership of Mullah Mohammed Omar, an Islamic scholar. 

Inspired by a vision of strict Islamic governance, the Taliban emerged as a movement that promised to end the cycle of warlordism and corruption that had gripped Afghanistan. This commitment to law and order helped the Taliban rise to power in less than two years. 

The movement first gained traction in southern Afghanistan, particularly in the provinces of Paktika, Ghazni and Zabul. Early supporters included traders and civilians who had suffered under the unchecked violence of local warlords. 

The group undertook their first significant military action in late 1994, when they captured key checkpoints between Helmand and Kandahar, an area plagued by lawlessness. 

A turning point came in October 1994 when the Taliban seized Spin Boldak, a key border town near Pakistan and close to Kandahar, which would become their power base in the years that followed. This victory provided them with financial resources and a strategic recruitment base, and madrassa students arrived in droves from Pakistan to join the movement. 

These students from seminaries in Pakistan played a crucial role in the capture of Kandahar on Nov. 15, 1994. The Taliban met with little resistance and their victory established the group as a formidable force, allowing them to expand their influence rapidly. 

By early 1995, the Taliban had taken the city of Ghazni and the province of Maidan Wardak as they moved ever-closer to Kabul. Their swift and ruthless military strategy allowed them to seize the Afghan capital on Sept. 27, 1996. Once in power, the Taliban declared Afghanistan an Islamic Emirate and implemented a strict interpretation of Shariah. 

Between 1997 and 2000, they extended their rule over 90 percent of Afghanistan. Their governance was marked by extreme restrictions on the rights of women, public executions and the suppression of cultural heritage, culminating in the destruction in 2001 of two massive 6th-century Buddhist statues in central Afghanistan’s Bamiyan valley. 

By then, the Taliban’s rigid and ruthless ideology had alienated much of the international community. 

Although some argue the rise of the Taliban was entirely indigenous, external influences certainly played a part. 

The Pakistani government of the time, led by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, viewed a stable Afghanistan as essential for regional trade. Bhutto publicly denied supporting the Taliban but admitted that ensuring stability in Afghanistan was a priority. “Whatever the people of Afghanistan decide is the best form of government for them, it will be acceptable to us,” she said. 

Her interior minister, Maj. Gen. Naseer Ullah Khan Babar, openly admitted that Pakistan supported the Taliban, referring to them as “my boys.” 

Amid the religious community, Maulana Sami Ul-Haq, one of Pakistan’s leading scholars, claimed to have contributed significantly to the Taliban movement. 

An analysis of his 2015 book, “Afghan Taliban: War of Ideology – Struggle for Peace,” reveals that while he denied allegations of providing military support or training, he proudly referred to himself as the “father of the Taliban.” He claimed that nearly 20,000 Afghan students graduated from his seminary over 50 years. 

“According to an estimate, about 90 percent of the Taliban in the Afghan government are graduates of Darul Uloom (the Islamic seminary he founded in northwestern Pakistan),” he wrote, adding: “It would not be wrong to say that (Darul Uloom) Haqqania is the nursery of the Taliban.” 

However, closer analysis of events — which were mostly documented as a first-hand account in the book “Taliban: A Critical History from Within,” written by Abdul Mutma’in, personal secretary to leader Mullah Omar — suggests that domestic conditions, primarily created by former warlords and Jihadi groups, along with the Taliban’s own military strategy and strength were the key factors in their rise to power. 

The Taliban’s first period of rule would be short-lived, however. Following the 9/11 attacks on the US in 2001, Washington issued an ultimatum demanding the extradition of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who had been sheltered by the Taliban since 1996. The group refused, US troops invaded Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, and the American-led coalition, in collaboration with the Northern Alliance, rapidly dismantled the Taliban’s military strongholds. 

By December 2001 Kandahar had fallen and the Taliban leadership, including Mullah Omar, were in hiding. A regime that rose so rapidly from the chaos of post-Soviet Afghanistan collapsed just as swiftly. 

Time, however, and patience were on the side of the Taliban. After two decades of conflict, the US grew weary of what had become its longest war, and in August 2021 it pulled out of the country, leaving the Taliban free to swiftly reclaim power. 

• Naimat Khan is a Pakistani journalist based in Karachi with more than two decades of experience covering militancy, human rights and politics. He currently reports for Arab News.