History of Taliban

Taliban is a brutal and fundamentalist religious group which came into existence in the northern parts of pakistan when the Soviet Union forces were returning from Afganistan. Afganistan was once under the control of Soviet Union. A resident of Pashtun Mullah Mohammad Umar was the leader of Taliban in decade of 1990’s. Pakistan was allegedly behind the formation of Taliban but Pakistan have always denied its involvement. It is a well known fact that the initial troopers of Taliban were products of the Madrassas of Pakistan. Taliban is a Pashtun word meaning student and rightly so because most of the troopers are picked up in early age while studying in Madrassas. Mullah Umar was the leader of this group and the troopers learned this brutality from their master Mullah Umar like an obedient Taliban.

In 1994 Taliban had kick started its campaign in Kandahar and slowly spread to other parts of the country. In Sept 1995 Taliban captured Herat on the north western part bordering Iran. In 1996 Taliban took control of Kandahar and Kabul and the then President of Afganistan, Burhanuddin Rabbani served in exile from 1996 onwards. Rabbani served as president from 1992 to 2001 (1996-2001 in exile). By 1997 most of the parts of Afganistan were controlled by Taliban.

Initially people of Afganistan supported Taliban but as stringent laws and restrictions were imposed by Taliban it popularity faded. Amputation of limbs, Public execution and stoned till death were few of the harsh punishments were given to the subjects. TV and music were banned and so is the girl education. Early marriage of girls and restriction on their clothing was imposed based on archaic fundamentalist religious sermons of a handful of few who ruled the rogue state. This continued till 2001 when USA troops uprooted the Taliban government.

Separatist Movement in Kashmir in late 1980’s

Late 1980’s has a lot of significance in the history of turmoil in this region. Soviet Union entered Afganistan in 1979 and for almost a decade they fought a futile war in Afganistan. This gave rise to the mujahideen and jihad who implied gorilla tactics to send back the Soviet Union by 1989. It was in the same year when the mujahideen and the jihadis were used by pakistan in Kashmir to disturb peace in J&K state. “Bleed India by 1000 cuts” is what the military doctrine of Pakistan says and it clearly means that pakistan will use gorilla warfare and terror factories to create unrest in the region.

Pakistan use to send the mujahideen (which was a mix of Afghan and Pakistani terrorists) across the LOC on the indian side and target the Hindu civilian minorities, Armed forces , police personnel , journalists and other government officials.Lakhs of Kashmiri Hindus had to migrate to peaceful Jammu region and rest of the country and world from these terrorists. Till date Kashmiri Hindus were not able to go back to their motherland. Terrorism in J&K was on the rise till 2001 when unfortunate events of parliament attack in New Delhi and WTC terror attack happened.

Taliban’s Ouster in 2001

Taliban gave refuge to Osama Bin Laden, the founder of militant organisation al-Qaeda. When Taliban refused to handover the terrorist Osama who was behind 9/11 attack USA attacked Afganistan and uprooted the Taliban government and started search for Osama-bin-Laden. After almost a decade in May 2011 Osama was captured and killed in Abbottabad Pakistan. Abbottabad is the capital city of Abbottabad District in the Hazara region of eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It was a shock for America that Osama was hiding in a large compound near a military base in a country who was an ally of USA in war against terror. It is laughable that a country which is the terror factory of the world was an ally to search for Talibans, who were allegedly created by Pakistan themselves. Most of the circumstantial evidences point to Pakistan who has used terror as a tool against both Afganistan and India. There are demands of imposing sanctions on terror factory Pakistan and it must be done rightly so.

Chronological Analysis

Soviet Union ruled Afganistan and was fighting with the jihadi ideology for almost a decade from 1979 to 1989. In 1989 Soviet Union left Afganistan and its economy was shattered in 10 years. In 1991 balkanization of Soviet Union happened and it was an end of the dominance of USSR in the region. In 1989 jihadis were diverted to create mayhem in Kashmir but failed miserably because of the effectiveness and tough fight given by Indian Military forces. Rise of Taliban in 1990’s uprooted the government of Afganistan and till 2001 they messed up the whole region and in 1999 Pakistan got the confidence to cowardly go and capture the snow clad mountains and impose Kargil War on India. Kargin war was won by India but both the countries paid a lot of price as far as the human lives is concerned.

I consider 1990’s as the rise of terrorism and with the advent of new millennium, “War on Terror” started. By 2021 in the last two decades i can say that terrorism was on the receiving end of the World forces.

Return of Taliban in 2021

Return of Taliban in 2021 is unexpected and a demotivating factor in the war against terror. In last 20 years it is very surprising that the Afghan forces didn’t learn how to fight the terrorist uprisings. Taliban captured the whole Afganistan within few weeks and started the same terror regime which they left 20 years back. We are back to square one and there is fear of a situation similar to 1989. Rights of females are snatched immediately and all the young unmarried girls above 15 years were sold along with the windows to Taliban troopers. Taliban of 2021 is well equipped with technology and arms.

Fear of terrorism in the region

Mujahids after Soviet left were used in Indian territory and there is fear of the same 1990’s ers in few. They fear that Taliban may be diverted towards India after victory in Afganistan. Taliban has undoubtedly boosted the morale of the terrorists and we have witnessed many soft separatists of Kashmir and malighed minds of the world supporting Taliban. AIMPLB secretary Maulana Umrain Mahfuz Rahmani took to social media to call Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan an extraordinary success, a heavenly decision and a sign that wars are won with God’s help. This is echoed across the board by many other prominant and common hidden supporters of Taliban.

PDP supremo Mehbooba Mufti had asked the Centre to take a lesson out of Afghanistan where the Taliban seized power and made the US flee, and urged the government to hold dialogue in Jammu and Kashmir and return its special status which was revoked in 2019. She is known for making such polarizing statements and pro-pakistan stand.

Return of Taliban is definitely a morale booster for all the soft separatists and the active militants. We must not fear Taliban though because they have to deal with the in house uprisings and resistance shown in few provinces. Secondly Indian forces of 2021 is way too different than the 1990 era. We need to be wary of the situation but we have nothing much to worry. Having said that only time will tell how things will unfold in near future. We can only wait, watch and plan well in advance.

Jai Hind Jai Bharat