X-Nico

30 unusual facts about Taliban


2001 uprising in Herat

The Northern Alliance faction consisted of over 5,000 militiamen under the command of Ismail Khan, a commander in the previous Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and former governor of Herat before the Taliban came into power in 1995.

Aaron Bank

Bank was commended by President George W. Bush in 2002, the year he celebrated his hundredth birthday, for developing the unconventional warfare programs and techniques that were used in toppling the Taliban.

Abdullah Gan

Throughout the war, the Taliban laid siege to Abdullah Gan, refusing to allow any aid through.

They were particularly obstinate in their opposition to the hard-line Sunni Taliban regime.

Aziz Ahmad

Ahmad remained in Kabul until leaving the city in 1996 shortly before it fell to the Taliban, who then banned Buzkashi.

BLU-82

The US Air Force dropped several BLU-82s during the campaign to destroy Taliban and al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan to attack and demoralize personnel and to destroy underground and cave complexes.

Chahar Barreh

Mahmoud Saremi, Iranian reporter, was born in Chahar Barreh and his killing by the Taliban is marked as Reporters' Day annually by Iran.

Dropping Food on Their Heads Is Not Enough: Benefit for RAWA

Geykido Comet Records benefit CD for Afghan Women released in 2002 was in response to the atrocities done to Afghan women by the Taliban.

Indira Gandhi Childrens Hospital

Some Indian physicians working at this hospital died in the February 2010 Kabul attack conducted by Taliban.

Kabir Mohabbat

Mohabbat acted as a temporary extraordinary envoy of the United States to the Taliban in the negotiations for the delivery of Osama bin Laden.

Kajaki Dam

The Taliban briefly stopped the flow of water to Iran when the latter threatened to attack in retaliation for the killing of Iranians who were claimed to be diplomats in Mazari Sharif when the Taliban retook the city from the Northern Alliance the second time.

Kamra-e-faoree

It was outlawed when the Taliban as former rulers of Afghanistan banned photography, forcing photographers to hide or destroy their equipment.

Klewki, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship

Village has gained popularity, due to the claims of Bogdan Gasiński and Andrzej Lepper who stated that Talibans are growing anthrax there.

KSE 100 Index

July 16 : KSE-100 Index dropped one-third from an all-time high hit in April, 2008 as rising pressure on shaky Pakistan's coalition government to tackle Taliban militants exacerbates concern about the country's economic woes.

Library of Birmingham

The formal opening on 3 September 2013 was conducted by Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived a Taliban assassination attempt, and who now lives in Birmingham.

Manu Militari

The protests alleged this was a glorification of the Taliban and pinpointed to the fact that Manu Militari had received $110,000 in four years from MusicAction, a government-funded body.

Mathare

In 2006, Mathare was damaged by violence between rival gangs the Taliban (not to be confused with the Islamist group of the same name), a Luo group, and the Mungiki, a Kikuyu group.

Qala-i-Jangi

It is known for being the site of a bloody 2001 Taliban uprising named the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi, in which at least 470 people were killed including CIA agent Johnny "Mike" Spann.

Radio Shariat

Radio Shariat (meaning Islamic law) was the ruling Taliban's mouthpiece, broadcasts religious programs and official decrees and announcements.

Saad bin Laden

On 24 July 2009, The Hindu reported that senior Taliban spokesmen claimed Saad bin Laden was not killed, or even hurt, during the missile attack.

Surkh Kotal

The statue of the king was destroyed during the Taliban wave of iconoclasm in February–March 2001, but has been restored by French conservationists.

Takur Ghar

The peak of Takur Ghar was the location of fierce fighting between US Special Operations Forces and al-Qaida terrorists and Taliban fighters during Operation Anaconda in March 2002 as part of the larger US war in Afghanistan.

Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia

The book was used extensively by American analysts and British politicians including Tony Blair and Alastair Campbell in the wake of the attacks.

Taliban's rise to power

The first major military activity of the Taliban was in October–November 1994 when they marched from Maiwand in southern Afghanistan to capture Kandahar City and the surrounding provinces, losing only a few dozen men.

The Boxing Girls of Kabul

Training takes place at Ghazi Stadium, Afghanistan’s national stadium, which had previously been the site of executions by the Taliban.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373

However, the resolution failed to define 'Terrorism', and the working group initially only added Al-Qaida and the Taliban regime of Afghanistan on the sanctions list.

Resolution 1566 also called for the creation of a working group that will expand the list of terrorist entities under sanction beyond the Taliban and Al-Qaida.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1566

Acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, it set up a working group to consider recommendations on measures to be imposed against "individuals, groups or entities involved in or associated with terrorist activities" not already identified by its Al-Qaeda and Taliban sanctions committee.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1735

It condemned and expressed concern at the increasing number of attacks by Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the Taliban and other individuals and groups.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1822

Extending by 18 months the mandate of the current New York-based Monitoring Team concerned with overseeing Council-imposed sanctions against members and/or associates of Al-Qaida, Usama bin Laden and the Taliban, the Security Council this morning provided “clear and fair procedures” for the maintenance of the Consolidated List of persons to whom those sanctions apply.


.af

The domain was delegated to an Abdul Razeeq in 1997, this only a year after Taliban fighters had captured Kabul and founded the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

1996 in Afghanistan

Taliban officials met with Pakistani Foreign Secretary Najmuddin ShaikhThe subject discussed as during Mr. Shaikh's meeting with Dostum and Dr. Abdullah in Mazar Sharif a day earlier was the working out of ceasefire arrangements between the contending factions in Afghanistan and suggesting talks with the Northern Alliance for the formation of a coalition government

416th Air Expeditionary Wing

In 2002 the wing was converted to provisional status as the 416th Air Expeditionary Group It served as the host unit at Karshi-Khanabad Air Base (K2), in Qarshi, Uzbekistan, from 2002–2005, where it supported operations against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Abdul Haq Wasiq

Throughout the fall of 2011 and the winter of 2012 the United States conducted peace negotiations with the Taliban, and widely leaked was that a key sticking point was the ongoing detention of Wasiq and four other senior Taliban, Norullah Noori, Mohammed Fazl, Khirullah Khairkhwa and Mohammed Nabi.

Afghan parliamentary election, 2010

Warlords, the Taliban and rival candidates were blamed for the intimidation and already at least eight people had been assassinated in relation to the upcoming elections, including three candidates.

"We urge people not to participate in the election. Everything and everyone affiliated with the election is our target -- candidates, security forces, campaigners, election workers, voters are all our targets," said Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid.

Al Sadeeq training camp

The Al-Sadeeq training camp is one of the training camps in Afghanistan, near Khost, that American intelligence officials have asserted were used to train individuals with ties to al Qaeda or the Taliban.

Arron Perry

This record was, in its turn, broken when, using an Accuracy International L115A3, British Corporal Craig Harrison killed two Taliban with consecutive shots at a distance of 2.47 kilometres (8120 ft) in Helmand Province, Afghanistan in November 2009.

Asim Abdulrahman

In early November 2001, the Taliban government announced they were bestowing official Afghan citizenship on him, as well as Bin Laden, Zawahiri, Saif al-Adl and Mohammed Atef.

Battle of Mir Ali

The Battle of Mir Ali was a bloody military engagement occurred between 7 October and 10 October 2007 and involved Taliban militants and Pakistani soldiers around the town of Mir Ali, Pakistan (North Waziristan), the second biggest town in the semi-autonomous region on the border with Afghanistan.

Battle of Swat

The First Battle of Swat between Pakistan and Taliban and Tribal Militants, 2007

Coalition combat operations in Afghanistan in 2006

An analysis of the coalition casualty figures from May 1 to August 12, 2006 by Sheila Bird, vice-president of the UK's Royal Statistical Society, revealed that during the period, an average of five coalition soldiers were killed every week by the Taliban, twice the death rate suffered during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Darvishan

In January 2010, Darvishan was the theatre of Taliban fanned violent anti-American demonstrations, following rumors of a desecration of the Qur'an in a U.S.-led military operation and maltreatment of women in the village of Barcha, about 6 miles south of Darvishan, during a raid to detain insurgents.

Fazal Mohammad

According to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, Fazal Mohammed was captured in the Taliban office in Soldier Bazaar, Karachi, where officials seized nineteen other individuals, "relief goods, documents, and aid money".

Foreign relations of Afghanistan

By 2000, only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

Gulan

Guantanamo detainee Anwar Khan, reports handing in his weapons, and his brother's weapon to Gulan when his brother was killed fighting the Taliban in Tora Bora, and he chose to retire from the fighting.

Harris Whitbeck

Since joining CNN in 1991, Whitbeck has reported on worldwide events including the war in Iraq and its aftermath, the U.S. led war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, the 2004 Haitian coup d'état, the rebellion in Chiapas, several papal visits to Latin America and the hostage crisis at the Japanese embassy in Lima.

January 2010 attack in central Kabul

The January 2010 attack in central Kabul was a suicide attack which occurred in central Kabul, Afghanistan on January 18, 2010 when Taliban gunmen attacked the presidential palace and several government buildings.

Jawbreaker: The attack on bin Laden and al-Qaeda

Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander (2005) is an autobiographical book by CIA agent Gary Berntsen describing the time he spent in Afghanistan at the beginning of the American campaign against the Taliban, al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Lee S. Wolosky

Wolosky's work at the White House also included directing sensitive operations, including leading U.S. government efforts to apprehend "Merchant of Death" Viktor Bout, the Taliban and al Qaeda-linked arms trafficker, who is now awaiting trial in New York.

Leroy Petry

On 26 May 2008 during his seventh deployment, Petry was a member of a team on a mission to capture a Taliban target in Paktia Province.

Mangal Hussain

According to the Asia Times he was one of the most powerful leaders in the Hezbi Islami Gulbuddin, prior to the emergence of the Taliban.

Michael Elston

From there he moved to the Eastern District of Virginia; there he worked on the prosecutions of John Walker Lindh, the American who fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan; and Zacarias Moussaoui, the convicted al-Qaida operative who alternately claimed and denied a role in the September 11 attacks.

Narcoterrorism

Although Al Qaeda is often said to finance its activities through drug trafficking, the 9/11 Commission Report notes that "while the drug trade was a source of income for the Taliban, it did not serve the same purpose for al Qaeda, and there is no reliable evidence that bin Laden was involved in or made his money through drug trafficking." The organization gains most of its finances through donations, particularly those by "wealthy Saudi individuals".

Nika District

It was, until the US invasion 2001, a bastion for the Taliban, with mid-level and a few senior Taliban commanders spending time there, including Jalaluddin Haqqani, who has since taken up a prominent role in Al Queda and is rumored to be one of Osama bin Laden's senior advisors.

Parwan Province

No one was injured in the attack, but it came hours after a visit by South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, raising suspicions of Taliban involvement.

Salahuddin Rabbani

In April 2012 it was announced that he is to chair the Afghan High Peace Council in its negotiations with the Taliban.

Second Battle of Swat

Major-General Athar Abbas, the Army's chief military spokesman, announced that "we want to eliminate the entire Taliban leadership".

Shah Mahmood Popal

He served briefly as the Governor of Logar Province, the Province where he was born, during the Afghan Interim Administration that followed the ouster of the Taliban, and preceded the elected administrations, that followed the adoption of a new constitution.

Strategy for Operation Herrick

The stalemate situation resulted in Southern Afghanistan in July 2009 being largely ungoverned by legitimate elected authority, it was instead governed by a shadow Taliban government.

If the Taliban are allowed to undermine legitimate government in either Afghanistan or Pakistan, that would enable Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups to have greater freedom and a sanctuary from which to train, plan and launch terrorist attacks across the world - and would have longer term implications for the credibility of NATO and the international community - and for the stability of both this crucial region and globally.

Type 56 assault rifle

Use of the Type 56 in Afghanistan also continued well into the 1990s and the early 21st century as the standard rifle of the Taliban when Taliban forces seized control of Kabul in 1996 (a majority of the Chinese small arms used by the Taliban were provided by Pakistan).

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1707

There were concerns about the security situation in Afghanistan, including increased activity by Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, armed groups and those involved in the illegal drugs trade.

Vital Voices

In 2002 Vital Voices was asked by First Lady Laura Bush to drive the effort to supply school uniforms to the many girls returning to school for the first time following the U.S. led overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Yair Nehorai

--> is loosely based on the famous “Taliban Mother” case, in which Nehorai represented both the son and the husband of the female leader of a Jewish extremist group, charged with child abuse.