Abstract
The Taliban is a Muslim affluenced group. The group is among the outlawed groups in the Southeast Asia region and they base most of its activities on the Quran. The group is well known to misinterpret the teachings of the Quran to oppress the people. The group started way back in the early 1990’s and has steadily grown strong over the years. It has attacked many countries, has placed so many people under its oppressive rule. So much has been done in efforts to close up the group, but it has proven futile. This paper looks a number of aspects in relation to the Taliban. These include political activities and terrorism activities, as well as future plans based on the current events.
Introduction
The Taliban group is one of the Muslim affluenced groups that is based in the Southeast Asia, Pakistan to be specific. The group is involved in terrorism activities. It mainly targets the United States of America. Despite the fact that the Taliban is an outlawed group, it operates most of the government parallel structures in the region. The group has been in operation since 1996, which is when they took control of the Afghanistan government. This goes on to prove that the group has been in existence for quite some time. The Taliban bases all its activities strictly on Islamic law and is very particular about it (Brunner, Rowen 2010).
Literature review
a) Political activities
For quite some time, the Taliban has been trying to gain recognition as a political entity. The Taliban has been insisting to have political offices in various parts of the world, majorly in Turkey. The group seeks to be a separate entity from other NATO members, and the NATO had no option but to grant the request of the Taliban group (Nazir, Kabul 2008). However, this has been met with a lot of sharp criticism. The critics say that any political activity by the Taliban will have negative effects on the peace efforts that are ongoing in the Afghan region.
The Taliban group is known to have had a close relationship with Osama Bin Laden of the Al-Qaeda group. Al-Qaeda is a group based in Pakistan. The close working relationship between the two groups strengthened the military power of the two countries, despite the fact that they are poorly equipped. Osama Bin Laden led the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda groups into fighting against what formerly, was the Soviet Union.
Again, the Taliban group is working hand in hand with the Afghan government and other international bodies to restore peace in the region. The group has taken the initiative to fight for the rights and freedom of the Muslims, not only in Afghanistan, but on an international level. However, this could change with the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Osama personally funded the group and attracted more funds from international donors for the activities of the group, as well as Osama’s group, the Al-Qaeda (Brunner, Rowen 2010).
The death of Osama risks the Taliban having to seize from most of its activities. Based on the past activities, the group will probably keep at their peace-making mission. For this to work, the group would have to cooperate with the Afghan government, drop their weapons, and work towards restoration of peace as well as the reconstruction of the area.
On the other side, the group could be receiving sympathies from other Islamic nations. This could mean more funding from the sympathizing nations. With the extra funds, the Taliban group could keep at its activities of fighting against the United States of America, and other nations that the group is out to terrorize.
b) Violent Terrorist Activities
The Taliban group has a thread of recorded terrorist activities that it has executed (Nazir, Kabul 2008). The group, together with the Al-Qaeda, executed whatever Osama Bin Laden wanted done. They also provided security for the man and protected him from arrest.
In 1996, the group captured a whole city, Kabul, which is the capital city of Afghan. With control over this city, the group was able to take charge of the day’s government. During their reign, the group terrorized the people in the name of strict Islamic rule[ CITATION Apa08 \l 1033 ]. Women could only wear veils that covered them from head to toe, men who had short beards were arrested, and people were banned from watching television[ CITATION Ros02 \l 1033 ]. The group used force to have control over most of Afghan.
The group has staged a number of attacks on various countries[ CITATION Apa08 \l 1033 ]. The group is also known to have involved the police in organized crimes as well as in the trafficking of drugs. Besides these, the Taliban group is known to have rebelled and fought against the Pakistani army.
Efforts to bring the Taliban group out of power and control have led to the group getting intimidated and consequently, the group has staged severe attacks on coalition forces and provinces such as Helmand, Kandahar, all in the east and south regions of the Afghanistan. The attacks were characterized by use of bombs, and the fighters usually were suicidal.
With the above already in record, the Taliban group is expected to keep at its drug trafficking activities, since this vice has been and will continue to be the major source of revenue for the group. The group has actually threat to attack the areas where the US has camped its soldiers. It is also expected that the group. As for the attacks, the chances that the group will stage more fights are very high. The attacks are likely to be a retaliation step, in a bid to avenge the death of Osama Bin Laden.
More to that, there is a likelihood that the group will join forces with the Al-Qaeda group, to plan and stage out more terrorist activities.
c) Recruitment techniques and likely success levels
The Taliban group recruits new members regularly. Most of the recruiting takes place at Karachi, which is a port city. Karachi has been a hideout place for the members of the Taliban for a very longtime[ CITATION Int04 \l 1033 ]. The place is favorable for them since in this city, they are able to get direct public funding from the public. Also from this place they are able to carry out other illegal activities are sources of revenue for the group.
Usually teenagers are recruited into the group. The Talibans go out and kidnap them as they are going to, or coming from school. Once they have them, they ask for a ransom from the family. If the family is in no position to pay for the ransom, then the teenager is brainwashed[ CITATION Apa08 \l 1033 ]. The brainwashing works better and faster with poor kids for they are usually not well educated and have no hope for a better future.
After the brainwashing, the young boys and men are put through madrassa classes where the instructors usually are extremists. However, in as much as the teachings are based on the Quran, the teachings are manipulated in a way that supports violence. The teenagers are taught that whatever attack they stage will be a form of Jihad and in the case that they die in the line of duty, they will die as martyrs. This they refer to it as suicide bombers or fighters. As time passes on, the teenagers develop deep hatred for the police officers and the government military men. It takes like five years of these classes for the young man to be fully qualified as a Taliban military man.
Another source of recruits for the Taliban group is refugees[ CITATION Int04 \l 1033 ]. The Taliban men take advantage of the vulnerability of the refugees and with the assurance of a place to live and food to eat, the refugees easily give in.
It is expected that the group will recruit more young people into the group[ CITATION Int04 \l 1033 ]. This is because it will work better for the group to have many young and able-bodied men as militants. With the strong military men, the group will be able to carry on its activities and attacks, as they have done in the past. It hence is very that the abductions and kidnappings are yet to come to an end.
d) Extent of expansion of the group’s influence geographically and demographically
The group came into being during the war against the Soviet Union. The Soviet had forcefully occupied the Afghanistan and this did not go well the Afghani people[ CITATION Apa08 \l 1033 ]. The Taliban, hence, was one of the groups that were formed to fight against the rule of the Soviet Union.
Soon after the war, the Taliban captured the city of Kabul and made it their territory. It did not take long before the group had taken control over at least 90% of Afghanistan. This was not difficult since the people viewed the group as a savior from the oppressive rule that they had been subjected to for a long time. However, this came to change when the Taliban started oppressing the women in the name protecting their dignity and infringing on the rights of the people, basing it all on the teachings of the Quran.
The influence has been felt worldwide and especially in the United States of America, following the series of attacks that the group has executed. The Taliban group is one of the most dreaded groups in the world. This is because of its terrorist activities that leave everybody shaken. The group has also attacked the Saudi Arabia, which led to the UAE cutting its diplomatic ties with group.
In the Southeast Asia, the group’s impact is well felt. The group is made even stronger by its collaboration with the Pakistani based group, the Al-Qaeda. The group has earned a lot of favor in province s such as the Pashtun, where the people have uprisings seeking to emulate the actions of the Taliban; oppression of women, public execution and all that[ CITATION Sha08 \l 1033 ].
The influence of the Afghanistan did not die even after the US army ousted them. Their Islamic believes persisted on and even threatened to destabilize other countries such as the Iran, China, and others. This would explain the support that the Talibans enjoy from China.
e) Present Key Assumptions Check
There are a number of assumptions linked to the existence of the Taliban group. All these assumptions are directed towards peacemaking efforts (Brunner, Rowen 2010). So many other countries are willing to combine forces with the government of the United States to give relief aid to the affected people, as well as provide security to the vulnerable people.
One of the key assumptions at the moment is that the Taliban group will agree to and cooperate with other interested bodies in their bids to restore peace in the war tone zones. To this assumption, it is hoped that the Taliban militants will down their weapons and give up the fighting, terrorism activities and bid to avenge. Everybody is hoping that this comes to materialize soon, so that reconstruction of the affected countries may start soonest possible.
However, there are fears that the due to the long presence of the Taliban group in Afghan, the peace talks could be very slow or not successful at all. People have adapted to the Taliban way of living and for the militants themselves, it would be very difficult to reform them. It will be very difficult to undo the teachings of the Quran that the Talibans have already taught the people, and more so its fighters.
Another key assumption is that the Taliban group is well believed to have sheltered Osama Bin Laden of the Al-Qaeda group. This means that the group largely depended on his guidance. There is a possibility that with the death of Osama, the group will in one way or another collapse. This is a source of hope for those looking forward to the complete wiping out of the group.
f) Signposts of change
The major signpost of change for the group is the death of Osama Bin Laden. So many people are looking forward to the collapsing of the group, counting on the much support that the people received from Osama. He funded the group and gave guidance to the group. He on a number of occasions addressed the group in person, but due to security reasons, had to use other means to communicate with fighters.
Another signpost of change is that the group has already given up a number of territories that they controlled. The fact that the US army has managed to kick out the Taliban group out of the government is a good sign that that group can be defeated.
g) Advocacy to original prediction
The sole reason that the Taliban was formed was to protect the interests of the normal man. This has been the driving force behind the movement, but more often than not, the group has always been misunderstood.
The Taliban has strict policies that help regulate the social lives of people. For instance, when they insist that women should wear long veils when outside the house, it is to protect the dignity of the woman[ CITATION Ros02 \l 1033 ]. More to that, the teachings about the Quran help shape and discipline the people to lead regulated lifestyles. All these are misinterpreted and regarded to as apartheid activities of the group.
The Taliban group should be allowed to voice out their main intentions so that they will stop having to use force for them to be given a voice.
Conclusion
It is very clear that the future of the Taliban group is far from over. The group has its record of recollecting itself even after being overthrown by other government militaries, including the US army. Looking at the fight that the group put up against the US army, the group is brought as being well equipped and skilled. Again, the fact that most of its fighters believe they are fighting a jihad, makes it even more difficult to completely wipe the group out. The Taliban still has a long way to go and their impact will keep on being felt for quite some more time to come.
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