Taliban Essay

Many Americans are very sheltered as to what is happening in the world they live in. Most do not understand that freedom is a right, and not everyone has it. When people think of genocide, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the Holocaust. In Germany, Hitler extinguished 11 million people, which is horrifying, to say the least, but there are more events like this in the world than people realize. Of these horrors that happen around the world, one in particular is unknown to many: the Taliban. The Taliban is an Islamic fundamentalist political movement originating from the Sunni culture that took place in Afghanistan. The Taliban first took over the city of Kabul in Afghanistan. It then spread to all of Afghanistan and became a government. The Taliban sets strict rules for everyone and disobeying these rules is cause for severe punishment, even execution. The word “Taliban” translates from Pashto, meaning “students.” The rise of the Taliban occurred in the 1990’s, when a US invasion destroyed an operation that provided refuge to Al-Qaeda as well as Osama bin Laden, who took responsibility for the 9/11 terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Later, the Taliban reorganized across the boarder of Pakistan with its new leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. In Afghanistan, the Taliban, a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist political movement, ruled from 1996 to 2001. The Taliban ensued terror against opposing culture/religion, women, and the opposition.

The Taliban ensues terror on many groups, one in particular is the opposing religions and cultures. The Taliban, like all dictators, rose to power by promising to restore peace and help enforce the Sharia, which is Islamic law. The leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar operated a government tha...

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...er dictator, the way to gain power is to exude fear, otherwise, people would revolt and end the reign of the dictator. If everyone is too fearful to speak up for what they believe in, then no one will and the dictator, or Taliban, in this case, will exercise total control. The Taliban exercised this belief to an extreme extent. Severe punishment was given to anyone disobeying or opposing rules. Punishment includedThe Taliban had no guidelines or code of conduct; anything goes, even sexual assault. As stated in an article about how the Taliban gained power, “In its efforts to control the country the Taliban became as brutal as its predecessors -- killing civilians, burning houses, and destroying crops in the villages and towns it had conquered” (Poolos, 2001). The Taliban, like all dictators, was forced to exacerbate punishments to keep this fear in civilians alive.