query: when did the taliban first take over afghanistan

pos: Taliban's rise to power a huge ammunition dump from warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a few weeks later they freed "a convoy trying to open a trade route from Pakistan to Central Asia" from another group of warlords attempting to extort money. In the next three months this hitherto "unknown force" took control of twelve of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, with Mujahideen warlords often surrendering to them without a fight and the "heavily armed population" giving up their weapons. By September 1996 they had captured Afghanistan's capital, Kabul. Under the Taliban regime, Sharia law was interpreted to ban a wide variety of activities hitherto lawful in Afghanistan:

pos: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (, "") was an Islamic state established in September 1996 when the Taliban began their rule of Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul. At its peak, the Taliban established control over approximately 90% of the country, whereas remaining parts of the country in the northeast were held by the Northern Alliance, which became the widely recognized government of Afghanistan. The Taliban provided a safe haven for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda officials, allowing them to plot major terrorist attacks such as the September 11 attacks (9/11). After 9/11, international opposition to

pos: Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai had set up in Afghanistan. When the communist government fell in 1992, Ghafoorzai acted as an intermediary to unite the factions of Afghanistan. He worked in the United Nations until 1995, and then became deputy foreign minister. He became foreign minister in July 1996. in September 1996 the government troops withdrew from Kabul and the Taliban captured Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, The International community did not recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan legitimate government except Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the Islamic State of Afghanistan government established the new cabinet in Mazar e Sharif in the north of Afghanistan, meanwhile

pos: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan for all states to close any offices belonging to the Taliban. This included the offices of Ariana Afghan Airlines. In 1999 the UN had passed resolution 1267 which had banned all international flights by Ariana apart from pre approved humanitarian missions. Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (, "") was an Islamic state established in September 1996 when the Taliban began their rule of Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul. At its peak, the Taliban established control over approximately 90% of the country, whereas remaining parts of the country in the northeast were held by the Northern

pos: Islam in Afghanistan characteristically in their thirties or forties and even younger, the Taliban swept the country. In September 1996 they captured Kabul and ruled over most of Afghanistan by 2001. The meteoric take over went almost unchallenged. Arms were collected and security was established. At the same time, acts committed for the purpose of enforcing the Shariah included public executions of murderers, stoning for adultery, amputation for theft, a ban on all forms of gambling such as kite flying, chess and cockfights, prohibition of music and videos, proscriptions against pictures of humans and animals, and an embargo on women's voices over the

pos: Afghanistan at the Asian Games respectively. However, the OCA has since amalgamated them into a single event, the Asian Indoor-Martial Arts Games, which will be debuted in 2013 in Incheon, South Korea. As a member of OCA, Afghanistan is privileged to participate in all these multi-sport events. Afghanistan has competed in the Asian Games since the inaugural edition of the Games in 1951 in New Delhi. On 26 September 1996, the Taliban took over Kabul and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Under the Taliban regime all types of sporting activities were deprecated, as according to the Taliban, most of them were against the teachings

pos: Al-Qaeda of Kandahar, and after making rapid territorial gains thereafter, the Taliban captured the capital city Kabul in September 1996. In 1996, Taliban-controlled Afghanistan provided a perfect staging ground for al-Qaeda. While not officially working together, Al-Qaeda enjoyed the Taliban's protection and supported the regime in such a strong symbiotic relationship that many Western observers dubbed the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as, "the world's first terrorist-sponsored state." However, at this time, only Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. While in Afghanistan, the Taliban government tasked al-Qaeda with the training

neg: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Düsseldorf. In 2001, bin Laden repeatedly summoned al-Zarqawi from Herat to Kandahar, asking that he take an oath of allegiance to him. Al-Zarqawi refused; he didn't want to take sides against the Northern Alliance, and doubted the fervor of bin Laden and the Taliban. When the United States launched its air war inside Afghanistan, on October 7, 2001, al-Zarqawi joined forces with al-Qaeda and the Taliban for the first time. He and his Jund al-Sham fought in and around Herat and Kandahar. When Zarqawi finally did take the oath in October 2004, it was after eight months of negotiations.

neg: Ross Kemp in Afghanistan army. There was no point when they did not take the fight to the enemy." Ross Kemp in Afghanistan Ross Kemp in Afghanistan (also known as Return to Afghanistan, Middle East and Back on the Frontline in subsequent series) is a Sky One British documentary series fronted by actor Ross Kemp about the British soldiers fighting in the War in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission against the Taliban. The first two series involved Kemp and a small embedded film crew following troops fighting in Helmand Province, documenting their part in the ongoing Operation Herrick.

neg: Farzana Wahidy in 1984, Wahidy moved with her family to Kabul at the age of six. She was a teenager when the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 1996. At age 13 she was beaten in the street for not wearing a burqa. During the Taliban era she was able to attend an underground school with about 300 other students in a residential area of Kabul, and when U.S.-led forces ended Taliban rule in 2001, she began high school. She became the first female Afghan photographer to work for the AFP and later AP. In 2007 she received a scholarship to take the

neg: Afghanistan at the Asian Games opportunity to send a contingent to the Games without the Taliban flag. The Committee declined to take part on this condition. Afghanistan did not send a delegation to the 1998 Asian Games held in Bangkok, Thailand, due to economic difficulties. Laws implemented by the Taliban government also made it impossible for Afghan athletes to compete. For example, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) does not allow players to have beards and mustaches, but Afghan males were forbidden to cut their facial hair. Afghanistan returned to the Asian Games after the fall of the Taliban government in the midst of an ongoing

neg: Hayatullah Khan (Taliban leader) Hayatullah Khan (Taliban leader) Mullah Hayatullah Khan is a Taliban leader and spokesmen. In 2004 Khan informed journalists that the Taliban's leadership were in Afghanistan, not taking sanctuary in Balochistan. When Hayatullah Khan made his first statement, in 2004, President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai said ""Who is this Taliban commander Hayatullah Khan who made this claim? I have never heard his name and probably you also don’t know him."". In February 2007 he was quoted about the Taliban's capture of Musa Qala. He asserted that the Taliban had over 300 fighters in Musa Qala. He said that the Taliban had

neg: Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Afghanistan) Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Afghanistan) The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice of Afghanistan (Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi An al-Munkar) was in charge of implementing Islamic rules as defined by the Taliban. It was first instituted by the 1992 Rabbani regime, and adopted by the Taliban when they took power in 1996. Established in 1996, the vice and virtue ministry received heavy subsidies and training from Saudi Arabia. When the Taliban took over Kabul, the committee announced a ban on sorcery and American-style haircuts It was closed

neg: Afghanistan at the 2002 Asian Games before the 2000 Summer Olympics, the IOC offered the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee the opportunity to send a contingent to the Games without the Taliban flag. The Committee declined to take part on this condition. Afghanistan did not send any delegation to the 1998 Asian Games held in Bangkok, Thailand, due to economic difficulties. Laws implemented by the Taliban government also made it impossible for Afghan athletes to compete. For example, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) does not allow players to have beards and mustaches, but Afghan males were forbidden to cut their facial hair. Afghanistan returned to the Asian

neg: Women's rights in Afghanistan four-year civil war a number of women had been kidnapped and some of them raped. During this period the Taliban made their way to take control of Kabul. Like their leader Mullah Omar, most Taliban soldiers were poor villagers educated in Wahhabi schools in neighboring Pakistan. Pashtuns of Pakistan also began joining the group. The Taliban declared that women were forbidden to go to work and they were not to leave their homes unless accompanied by a male family member. When they did go out it was required that they had to wear an all-covering burqa. Under these restrictions, women

neg: War in Afghanistan (2001–present) the strikes marked the first time commanders used their newly granted authorities to target Taliban revenue sources. Vice President Mike Pence announced on 21 December 2017 that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told him that more senior Taliban leaders have been killed in 2017 than in all prior years of the war combined. Pence also stated that the USA was making great progress with the war in Afghanistan. On 21 August 2017, US President Donald Trump stated that he would expand the American presence in Afghanistan, without giving details on how or when. Trump did not formulate any timelines, troop numbers

neg: 1995 attack on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul Taliban meetings in Kandahar. These meetings discussed how the Taliban could best conquer Afghanistan militarily and how ""best to impose Sharia law"" over Afghanistan. Pakistani politicians during that time repeatedly denied supporting the Taliban, which has been described by reliable sources as an explicit 'policy of denial'. 1995 attack on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul The 1995 attack on the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul occurred on 6 September 1995 when up to 5,000 protestors attacked and sacked the embassy of Pakistan in Kabul, Afghanistan, after the Taliban militia had captured Herat from the internationally recognised Islamic State of Afghanistan. One

neg: Islamism Afghanistan, the mujahideen's victory against the Soviet Union in the 1980s did not lead to justice and prosperity, due to a vicious and destructive civil war between political and tribal warlords, making Afghanistan one of the poorest countries on earth. In 1992, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan ruled by communist forces collapsed, and democratic Islamist elements of mujahdeen founded the Islamic State of Afghanistan. In 1996, a more conservative and anti-democratic Islamist movement known as the Taliban rose to power, defeated most of the warlords and took over roughly 80% of Afghanistan. The Taliban were spawned by the thousands of

neg: Afghanistan foreign influence, eventually becoming a monarchy under King Amanullah, until almost 50 years later when Zahir Shah was overthrown and a republic was established. In 1978, after a second coup Afghanistan first became a socialist state and then a Soviet Union protectorate. This evoked the Soviet–Afghan War in the 1980s against mujahideen rebels. By 1996 most of Afghanistan was captured by the Islamic fundamentalist group the Taliban, who ruled most of the country as a totalitarian regime for over five years. The Taliban were forcibly removed by the NATO-led coalition, and a new democratically-elected government political structure was formed. Afghanistan

neg: Mohammed Fahim former President Mohammad Najibullah, then in custody in Kabul, from the advancing Taliban forces, but Najibullah refused to be evacuated and was captured and executed by a Taliban mob. Fahim continued to serve as head of the Intelligence and Minister of National Security of the internationally recognised United Islamic Front Government, even when it was ousted and the Taliban took the power over most provinces of Afghanistan in the second half of the 1990s. During this time of Taliban-reign in Afghanistan Fahim was active as military commander for the United Islamic Front in the north of Afghanistan, especially in Panjshir

neg: Taliban insurgency in 2008 the Taliban has "coalesced into a resilient insurgency", and would "maintain or even increase the scope and pace of its terrorist attacks". Attacks by Taliban insurgents in eastern Afghanistan increased by 40% when compared to the same period in 2007. During 2009 the Taliban regained control over the countryside of several Afghan provinces. In August 2009, Taliban commanders in the province of Helmand started issuing ""visa"" from the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" in order to allow travel to and from the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah. During 2010, the Taliban were ousted from parts of Helmand Province by

neg: Bismillah Khan Mohammadi grade in Abu Hanifa Seminary he enrolled at Kabul Military University. Mohammadi was a former PDPA Parcham member, but after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan he aligned himself with mujahideen resistance commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. When the Taliban gained control over large parts of Afghanistan in 1996 establishing their Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Bismillah Khan served as Deputy Minister of Defense of the anti-Taliban and still recognized Islamic State of Afghanistan. He was a senior commander in the anti-Taliban resistance, the United Front (Northern Alliance), led by Ahmad Shah Massoud. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent

neg: Taliban curbed lawlessness, and made the roads and area safe. In a bid to establish their rule over all Afghanistan, the Taliban started shelling Kabul in early 1995. The Taliban first suffered a devastating defeat against government forces of the Islamic State of Afghanistan under the command of Ahmad Shah Massoud. Pakistan, however, started to provide stronger military support to the Taliban. On September 26, 1996, as the Taliban prepared for another major offensive, Massoud ordered a full retreat from Kabul to continue anti-Taliban resistance in the northeastern Hindu Kush mountains instead of engaging in street battles in Kabul. The Taliban

neg: Taliban Kingdom took operational responsibility for Helmand Province, a major poppy-growing province in southern Afghanistan, deploying troops there in the summer of 2006, and encountered resistance by re-formed Taliban forces allegedly entering Afghanistan from Pakistan. The Taliban turned towards the use of improvised explosive devices. During 2008 the United Kingdom announced plans to pay Taliban fighters to switch sides or lay down arms; the proceeding year the U.K. government supported negotiations with the Taliban. India is one of the Taliban's most outspoken critics. India did not recognize the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and instead maintained close strategic and military ties with

neg: War in Afghanistan (2001–present) US rules of engagement in Afghanistan impose limits on US forces ability to strike at insurgents; being allowed to take action against the Taliban in moments when their assistance was needed to prevent a significant Afghan military setback. The Taliban are refocusing their attention mostly on Helmand, Kandahar and Uruzgan province, according to U.S. and Afghan military officials, although the insurgents also have struck elsewhere. The Taliban still have a large presence in the region with as many as 25,000 fighters with more than 30,000 Afghan security forces fighting to quell the group's resurgence. On 24 June, it was reported

neg: Mohammed Ibrahim (renegade Taliban leader) Mohammed Ibrahim (renegade Taliban leader) Mohammed Ibrahim (died ) was an Afghan rose to a leadership role in the Taliban, but renounced the organisation in 2006. Accounts differ as to the role Ibrahim played in the Taliban's resistance to the new government in Afghanistan. Ibrahim claimed he had last fought in Afghanistan in 2001, and had then moved to Pakistan. Afghan and American spokespeople said they believed he had been orhestrating attacks until shortly before his apprehension. Ibrahim claimed he was on his way to surrender, to take advantage of an amnesty program called "Peace through strength". when he was

neg: Counterinsurgency in Northern Afghanistan commander for Northeast Afghanistan. One KSK operative suffered minor wounds. Additionally reinforcements were deployed to PRT Kunduz, almost doubling the garrison there. The security situation had turned notably worse. All girl schools in Chardara had to be closed for fear of imminent terrorist attacks. Manpower shortages did not allow German forces to uphold a permanent deterrence against armed militias, crippling the long-term effect of their actions. However, German and Afghan troops increased their efforts to take on the Taliban in different operations of various character. On May 15, ANSF killed Qari Sidiqulla, a Taliban district commander for Imam Sahib, in

neg: Ahmad Shah Massoud from 15 different Afghan provinces met, in the second meeting there were already 25 provinces participating. Massoud also invited the Taliban to join the peace process wanting them to be a partner in providing stability to Afghanistan during such a process. But the Taliban, which had emerged over the course of 1994 in southern Afghanistan, were already at the doors of the capital city. Against the advice of his security personnel, Massoud went to talk to some Taliban leaders in Maidan Shar, Taliban territory. The Taliban declined to join the peace process leading towards general elections. When Massoud returned to

neg: Shura-e Nazar Massoud went to talk to Taliban leaders in Maidan Shar to convince them to join the initiated political process, so that democratic elections could be held to decide on a future government for Afghanistan. The Taliban declined to join such a political process. When Massoud returned unharmed to Kabul, the Taliban leader who had received him as his guest paid was killed by other senior Taliban for failing to execute Massoud while the possibility had presented itself. In a bid to establish their rule over Afghanistan, the Taliban started shelling the capital in early 1995. (see video) Amnesty International, referring

neg: Local government The Taliban set up a shura (assembly), made up of senior Taliban members and important tribal from the area. Each shura made laws and collected taxes locally. The Taliban set up a provisional government for the whole of Afghanistan, but it did not exercise central control over the local shuras. The process of setting up the transitional government in June 2002 by the Loya Jirga took many steps involving local government. First, at the district and municipal level, traditional shura councils met to pick electors—persons who cast ballots for Loya Jirga delegates. Each district or municipality had to choose a

neg: Abdul Karim Brahui the military of Afghanistan. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, he left the military as many others did and joined the mujahideen rebel groups where he fought for about 14 years. Following the collapse of Najibullah's government, Brahui was appointed as Governor of Nimroz province and the Commander of the 4th Brigade in the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani. During the Taliban era, he led the resistance front against the Taliban forces in Nimroz. When the United States armed forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001, Brahui was again appointed as the Governor of Nimroz and Commander of 4th Brigade. In

neg: Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II Force happened on 6 April 1999; A-10s remained in action until combat ended in late June 1999. During the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, A-10s did not take part in the initial stages. For the campaign against Taliban and Al Qaeda, A-10 squadrons were deployed to Pakistan and Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, beginning in March 2002. These A-10s participated in Operation Anaconda. Afterwards, A-10s remained in-country, fighting Taliban and Al Qaeda remnants. Operation Iraqi Freedom began on 20 March 2003. Sixty OA-10/A-10 aircraft took part in early combat there. United States Air Forces Central Command issued "Operation Iraqi Freedom: By the

neg: Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan for Hazaras, a Shiite minority whose members were massacred by the Taliban prior to the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the militant group. Afghan analysts said Hazara delegates proposed the additional base. At least five of the 50 jirga committees raised objections to the article addressing "status of personnel" which "authorises the United States to hold [civil and criminal] trial ... or take other disciplinary action, as appropriate, in the territory of Afghanistan" when a US soldier is accused of criminal activity. Spokespeople from at least two committees directly stated that Afghanistan should have jurisdiction over any US soldiers accused of

neg: Afghan National Anthem It is also known alternatively by the title "Fortress of Islam, Heart of Asia" (), which is also the song's incipit. During the late 1990s, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan under the Taliban took control over most of Afghanistan from the UN-recognized government and ruled most of the country until late 2001. The Taliban outlawed music throughout the territory that they controlled, which consisted of most of the country. As such, most of Afghanistan practically was left without a national anthem during that time, until late 2001 when the Taliban was overthrown and the UN-recognized government was re-instituted. The song

neg: Opposition to the war in Afghanistan (2001–2014) New York Times interview initiated by the White House, a senior White House official acknowledged that there are fewer than 100 al-Qaida fighters left in Afghanistan and that the Afghan Taliban, an indigenous Afghan group seeking to win back territory within their own country, do not themselves pose a direct security threat to the United States. He said: "When the two are aligned, it's mainly on the tactical front." The comments were made a day after the Taliban asserted that it did not pose a direct threat to the United States. The Taliban stated that their aim was "obtainment of

neg: 2009 NATO Afghanistan headquarters bombing between the United States Embassy and the presidential palace. The blast did not affect them, nor did it cause substantial damage to the NATO headquarters. It was the first attack on the NATO compound since its construction in 2002. The incident marked the beginning of a wave of intimidation by unknown perpetrators, mostly spread by telephone calls and text messaging, warning Afghans not to participate in polling at risk of being killed and targeted alongside foreign forces. 2009 NATO Afghanistan headquarters bombing The 2009 NATO Afghanistan headquarters bombing occurred on August 15, 2009 when an Taliban suicide bomber detonated himself

neg: United States invasion of Afghanistan foreign fighters, continued to resist. By then, the Taliban had been forced back to their heartland in southeastern Afghanistan around Kandahar. Elsewhere in Afghanistan UK and US special forces joined the Northern Alliance and other Afghan opposition groups to take Herat in November 2001. Canada and Australia also deployed forces. Other countries provided basing, access and overflight permission. As a result of all the losses, surviving members of the Taliban and al-Qaeda retreated toward Kandahar, the spiritual birthplace and home of the Taliban movement and Tora Bora. By 13 November, al-Qaeda and Taliban forces, possibly including bin Laden, were concentrating

neg: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar solidarity." Those that did not were expelled by the Taliban. In Pakistan Hezb-e-Islami training camps "were taken over by the Taliban and handed over" to [[Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam]] (JUI) groups such as the [[Sipah-e-Sahaba]] Pakistan (SSP). [[File:Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in Iran.jpg|thumb|Hekmaryar 1997 in Iran]] Hekmatyar then fled to [[Iran]] in 1997 where he is said to have resided for almost six years, although he claimed in August 1998 that he still remained in Afghanistan. Isolated from Afghanistan he is reported to have "lost ... his power base back home" to defections or inactivity of former members. He was also distrusted by the

neg: Mohammad Rabbani the civil war ended when the Soviet army withdrew in 1989, but other members and factions of the mujahedin fought on, first against the Afghan communist government and then against each other. It was a time of lawlessness and chaos. The communist government fell in 1992 and Afghanistan was fought over by factions of the mujahedin. Kandahar was particularly a battleground for commanders turned warlords. Rabbani and about thirty other religious students (Taliban) decided to take the warlords on, first in the border town of Spin Boldak and then in Kandahar itself. During this period, Rabbani argued "Our concern is

neg: The Army and Air Force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan The Army and Air Force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan The Army And Air Force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was the army and air force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Taliban maintained a military during their period of control. The Taliban army possessed over 400 T-54/55 and T-62 tanks and more than 200 armoured personnel carriers. The Afghan Army inherited over 600 T-62 tanks. The Afghan Air Force under the Taliban maintained five supersonic MIG-21MFs and 10 Sukhoi-22 fighter-bombers. In 1995, during the 1995 Airstan incident, a Taliban fighter plane captured a Russian transport. They

neg: Karim Asir Karim Asir Karim Asir is a comedic Charlie Chaplin impersonator in Kabul, Afghanistan born to Afghan parents in 1994 living in Iran who fled Afghanistan when the Taliban took over. At the age of 12 his family moved back to Afghanistan. At that point in his life he saw what decades of war had done to his country. Asir states "The buildings were all destroyed and everywhere was destroyed by the Taliban." Asir studied theater at Kabul University. After graduation from university Asir wanted to apply his education to address social problems in Afghanistan and he decided to do this

neg: Taliban Sebastian Junger says: "In 2000, when I was there ... I happened to be there in a very interesting time. ... Massoud brought together Afghan leaders from all ethnic groups. They flew from London, Paris, the USA, all parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India. He brought them all into the northern area where he was. He held a council of ... prominent Afghans from all over the world, brought there to discuss the Afghan government after the Taliban. ... we met all these men and interviewed them briefly. One was Hamid Karzai; I did not have any idea who he would

neg: Indians in Afghanistan of 1990, the population of Afghans of Indian origin was estimated at 45,000, mostly descended from migrants from the Punjab region. They settled down in various parts of Afghanistan, particularly Jalalabad and Kabul. Many left Afghanistan after the Taliban came to power in 1996, mainly due to harsh restrictions imposed on them, leaving a population of approximately 1,000, mainly based in Kabul and Jalalabad. India did not have any official representation in Afghanistan while the Taliban were in power. The small Hindu and Sikh communities suffered harsh discrimination during that period. In April 2001, the Taliban issued an edict requiring

neg: April 2012 Afghanistan attacks foreign presence in Afghanistan". April 2012 Afghanistan attacks The April 2012 Afghanistan attacks took place on Sunday, 15 April 2012, at around 13:00 local time (08:30 UTC) when heavily armed Taliban insurgents and suicide bombers launched multiple coordinated attacks throughout Afghanistan. Insurgents launched the 2012 spring offensive on multiple locations, including government buildings, military bases, and embassies. Attacks occurred in four Afghan provinces, including Kabul and Paktia. Different reports attribute responsibility for the attacks to either Taliban or the Haqqani network although the Taliban have claimed responsibility. Between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban controlled large portions of Afghanistan following their

neg: Seth Jones (political scientist) since 2005. Jones attracted considerable attention for his historical analysis of Afghanistan and Pakistan in his book "In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan". The book examines the collapse of the Zahir Shah regime, the rise of the anti-Soviet war, the Afghan civil war in the early 1990s, the Taliban take-over of much of the country in the late 1990s, the U.S-led overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001, and the subsequent insurgency. Jones also received considerable attention for his work with Ambassador James Dobbins on nation-building. Their RAND book "America's Role in Nation-Building", which examined the U.S.

neg: United States invasion of Afghanistan strikes on militant training camps in Afghanistan. U.S. officials pressed the Taliban to surrender bin Laden. In 1999, the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on the Taliban, calling for bin Laden to be surrendered. The Taliban repeatedly rebuffed these demands, though there were reports about attempts to negotiate the delivery of Bin Laden by the Taliban. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Special Activities Division paramilitary teams were active in Afghanistan in the 1990s in clandestine operations to locate and kill or capture Osama bin Laden. These teams planned several operations, but did not receive the order to proceed from President

neg: 2008 bombing of Indian embassy in Kabul that in case of another attack he would have to take "serious action". During the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which was backed by Pakistan, India had supported the Northern Alliance that opposed the Taliban. After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, India opened four consulates in Herat, Mazari Sharif, Kandahar and Jalalabad and backed Hamid Karzai's national government as well as the US-led ISAF against the Taliban insurgency. India is Afghanistan's fifth-largest bilateral donor and its growing presence in post-war Afghanistan has caused much concern to the Taliban and Pakistan as it views Indian measures as a threat to

neg: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan first time in 60 years. Wrapping himself in the relic, he appeared on the roof of a building in the center of Kandahar while hundreds of Pashtun mullahs below shouted "Amir al-Mu'minin!" (Commander of the Faithful), in a pledge of support. Taliban spokesman Mullah Wakil explained: The Taliban were very reluctant to share power, and since their ranks were overwhelmingly Pashtun they ruled as overlords over the 60% of Afghans from other ethnic groups. In local government, such as Kabul city council or Herat, Taliban loyalists, not locals, dominated, even when the Pashto-speaking Taliban could not communicate with the roughly

neg: Pakistan and state-sponsored terrorism the Cato Institute, "Without the active support of the government in Islamabad, it is doubtful whether the Taliban could ever have come to power in Afghanistan. Pakistani authorities helped fund the militia and equip it with military hardware during the mid-1990s when the Taliban was merely one of several competing factions in Afghanistan’s civil war. Only when the United States exerted enormous diplomatic pressure after the Sept. 11 attacks did Islamabad begin to sever its political and financial ties with the Taliban. Even now it is not certain that key members of Pakistan’s intelligence service have repudiated their Taliban clients.

neg: Jawed Ludin Co-ordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR). While he was in the UK, he worked with the British Agencies Afghanistan Group from 1999 until 2001 and British Overseas NGOs for Development from 2001 until 2003. Ludin's political career started in November 2001 when he took part in organization of the United Nations-sponsored Bonn Conference that laid out the democratic framework for the post-Taliban Afghanistan. In early 2003, he gave up his doctorate studies at the University of London and returned to Afghanistan to take up his first political post as Presidential Spokesman and Director of Communications for President Hamid Karzai's government.

neg: War in Afghanistan (2001–present) schools in Afghanistan, but there's no certainty who did that. In 2009, Colonel Richard Kemp, formerly Commander of British forces in Afghanistan and current intelligence coordinator for the British government – thus part of the anti-Taliban coalition (ISAF), made these comments about the Taliban tactics and strategy as he perceived them: Beginning in 2011, insurgent forces in Afghanistan began using a tactic of insider attacks on ISAF and Afghan military forces. In the attacks, Taliban personnel or sympathizers belonging to, or pretending to belong to, the Afghan military or police forces attack ISAF personnel, often within the security of ISAF

neg: Swat District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, has many Buddhist carvings, statues, and stupas. The town of Jehanabad contains a Seated Buddha statue. Kushan era Buddhist stupas and statues in Swat valley were demolished by the Taliban, and after two attempts by the Taliban, the Jehanabad Buddha's face was dynamited. Only the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan, which the Taliban also demolished, were larger than the Buddha statue in Swat. The government did nothing to safeguard the statue after the initial attempt at destroying the Buddha, which did not cause permanent harm; when the second attack took place on the statue, the feet,

neg: Afghanistan at the 2002 Asian Games of taekwondo without winning a single match. Zamani was the only medalist from the Afghan side and the first Afghan medalist in 20 years. None of the remaining athletes advanced past the qualifying stages, and as such did not win any medals. Afghanistan is a member of the South Asian zone of the Olympic Council of Asia, and has competed in the Asian Games since the inaugural edition of the Games in 1951 in New Delhi. On September 26, 1996, the Taliban annexed the Kabul and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Under the Taliban regime all types of sporting

neg: Jim Moran voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which passed and was signed into law in March 2010. Moran voted against authorizing the Iraq War in 2002 and did not support the troop increase for the Afghanistan War proposed by President Barack Obama in 2009, saying first that he appreciated Obama's "careful consideration regarding the U.S.'s engagement in Afghanistan", but later defining the issues on which he and the President disagreed: Our security concern is Al-Qaeda, not the Taliban. Eight years ago we went into Afghanistan to eliminate al-Qaeda and the "safe haven" that Afghanistan's Taliban were providing the

neg: 1995 attack on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul 1995 attack on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul The 1995 attack on the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul occurred on 6 September 1995 when up to 5,000 protestors attacked and sacked the embassy of Pakistan in Kabul, Afghanistan, after the Taliban militia had captured Herat from the internationally recognised Islamic State of Afghanistan. One person was killed and twenty six others, including the Pakistani ambassador, were injured. The attack occurred due to the Afghan peoples belief that Pakistan had helped the Taliban to take the city. The attack against the Pakistani embassy by pro-government protestors in Kabul took place a day

neg: Presidency of George W. Bush to the Taliban. The second phase consisted of a major air campaign against Taliban and al-Qaeda targets, while the third phase involved the defeat of the remaining Taliban and al-Qaeda forces. The fourth and final phase consisted of the stabilization of Afghanistan, which Franks projected would take three to five years. The war in Afghanistan began on October 7 with several air and missile strikes. On October 19, the Northern Alliance began its offensive, and the capital of Kabul was captured on November 13. Hamid Karzai was inaugurated as the new president of Afghanistan. However, the senior leadership of the

neg: War in Afghanistan (2001–present) clear policy toward Afghanistan. In 1997, for example, the U.S. State Department's Robin Raphel told Massoud to surrender to the Taliban. Massoud responded that, as long as he controlled an area the size of his hat, he would continue to defend it from the Taliban. Around the same time, top foreign policy officials in the Clinton administration flew to northern Afghanistan to try to persuade the United Front not to take advantage of a chance to make crucial gains against the Taliban. They insisted it was the time for a cease-fire and an arms embargo. At the time, Pakistan began

neg: April 2012 Afghanistan attacks April 2012 Afghanistan attacks The April 2012 Afghanistan attacks took place on Sunday, 15 April 2012, at around 13:00 local time (08:30 UTC) when heavily armed Taliban insurgents and suicide bombers launched multiple coordinated attacks throughout Afghanistan. Insurgents launched the 2012 spring offensive on multiple locations, including government buildings, military bases, and embassies. Attacks occurred in four Afghan provinces, including Kabul and Paktia. Different reports attribute responsibility for the attacks to either Taliban or the Haqqani network although the Taliban have claimed responsibility. Between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban controlled large portions of Afghanistan following their emergence as a power

neg: Rasul v. Bush and try enemy combatants by military commissions under Presidential authority alone. The various plaintiffs were taken to Guantanamo Bay for different reasons, but were generally captured or arrested during the United States invasion of Afghanistan. The US Military transferred Rasul and Asif Iqbal, both British citizens, and David Hicks, an Australian citizen, to Guantanamo Bay in December 2001. Each denied voluntarily joining any terrorist forces. As noted by the District Court, they did not deny having fought for the Taliban, but claimed that if they "did" take up arms, it was only when being attacked and in self-defense. Rasul and

neg: Earnest James Ujaama the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. President Clinton signed an Executive Order 13129 on July 4, 1999, known as the International Emergencies Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701, AKA "IEEPA") forbidding U.S. citizens from "any transactions or dealings…" with the Taliban. This included "funds, goods, or services to or for the benefit of the Taliban" and includes "services to the territory of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban…" which is why Ujaama would eventually plead guilty to violating the IEEPA for installing software for a friend to use on a computer owned by the Taliban, and "conspiring to take Feroz Abassi to

neg: Taliban Taliban The Taliban ( ' "students") or Taleban, who refer to themselves as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), are a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan currently waging war (an insurgency, or jihad) within that country. Since 2016, the Taliban's leader is Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada. From 1996 to 2001, the Taliban held power over roughly three quarters of Afghanistan, and enforced there a strict interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law. The Taliban emerged in 1994 as one of the prominent factions in the Afghan Civil War and largely consisted of students ("talib") from the Pashtun areas of eastern

neg: Taliban while another 26% of Afghanistan was contested between the Afghan government and various insurgency groups. In August 2017, reacting on a hostile speech of US President Trump, a Taliban spokesman retorted that the Taliban would keep fighting to free Afghanistan of "American invaders". According to a 55-page report by the United Nations, the Taliban, while trying to consolidate control over northern and western Afghanistan, committed systematic massacres against civilians. UN officials stated that there had been "15 massacres" between 1996 and 2001. They also said, that "[t]hese have been highly systematic and they all lead back to the [Taliban] Ministry

neg: Ahmad Shah Massoud in Kabul, but was ruled by local Pashtun leaders, such as Gul Agha Sherzai, and their militias. In 1994, the Taliban (a movement originating from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-run religious schools for Afghan refugees in Pakistan) also developed in Afghanistan as a politico-religious force, reportedly in opposition to the tyranny of the local governor. When the Taliban took control of Kandahar in 1994, they forced the surrender of dozens of local Pashtun leaders who had presided over a situation of complete lawlessness and atrocities. In 1994, the Taliban took power in several provinces in southern and central Afghanistan. Hizb-i Islami had bombarded

neg: Afghanistan–Pakistan relations Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Pakistan hosted over 3 million Afghans at various refugee camps, mainly around Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The United States and others provided billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance to the refugees. There were no regular schools provided for the refugees but only madrasas in which students were trained to become members of the Taliban movement. When the Soviet Union began leaving Afghanistan, during the Presidency of Mohammad Najibullah, the UNHCR and the international community assisted 1.5 million Afghan refugees in returning to Afghanistan. Around September 1994, the Taliban movement captured the Afghan city of Kandahar and

neg: Karim Asir but these issues cannot stop me carrying out my work and performances. I'll continue my performances despite these issues and threats which exist in the country". Karim Asir Karim Asir is a comedic Charlie Chaplin impersonator in Kabul, Afghanistan born to Afghan parents in 1994 living in Iran who fled Afghanistan when the Taliban took over. At the age of 12 his family moved back to Afghanistan. At that point in his life he saw what decades of war had done to his country. Asir states "The buildings were all destroyed and everywhere was destroyed by the Taliban." Asir studied

neg: David Gilkey and the United States armed the Afghanistan rebels, which later gave rise to the Taliban. After the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, the United States led by President George W. Bush attacked Afghanistan and the Taliban leadership for harboring Al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden. The United States involvement in Afghanistan entered a new phase when President Barack Obama began to draw down troops and Afghanistan entered talks with the enemy. During summer 2015, Taliban and Afghan forces were fighting for Kunduz, and the Taliban managed to secure control there. Gilkey and his Afghani handler were covering the

neg: United States invasion of Afghanistan banner for an ethnically balanced Afghanistan." The Northern Alliance received varying degrees of support from Russia, Iran, Tajikistan and India. The Taliban captured Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998 and drove Dostum into exile. The conflict was brutal. According to the United Nations (UN), the Taliban, while trying to consolidate control over northern and western Afghanistan, committed systematic massacres against civilians. UN officials stated that there had been "15 massacres" between 1996 and 2001. The Taliban especially targeted the Shiite Hazaras. In retaliation for the killing of 3,000 Taliban prisoners by Uzbek general Abdul Malik Pahlawan in 1997, the Taliban killed about 4,000

neg: 1994 in Afghanistan a powerful guerrilla force. The group's first accomplishment is the defeat of local commanders who have hijacked a truck convoy traveling from Pakistan to Central Asia. These mainly Pashtun students secure the release of the convoy and within days take control of Kandahar (October); later they extend their control to neighbouring provinces. While maintaining a low profile in a council in Kandahar, the Taliban declare that their goal is to disarm all factions and create a united, Islamic government in Afghanistan. The Taliban were recruited from schools set up among Afghan refugees in Pakistan during the years following the Soviet

neg: Taliban Despite the aid of United Nations (UN) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) given (see § Afghanistan during Taliban rule), the Taliban's attitude in 1996–2001 toward the UN and NGOs was often one of suspicion. The UN did not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, most foreign donors and aid workers were non-Muslims, and the Taliban vented fundamental objections to the sort of 'help' the UN offered. As the Taliban's Attorney General Maulvi Jalil-ullah Maulvizada put it in 1997: In July 1998, the Taliban closed "all NGO offices" by force after those organizations refused to move to a bombed-out

neg: Indian Airlines Flight 814 to land in Kandahar, Afghanistan, which at the time was controlled by the Taliban. The hijackers released 27 of 176 passengers in Dubai but fatally stabbed one and wounded several others. At that time, most of Afghanistan, including Kandahar where the plane landed, was under Taliban control. Initially it was thought that Taliban was on India's side but later it was suggested that they were working in collaboration with Pakistan's ISI. Taliban fighters surrounded the aircraft to prevent any Indian military intervention, as claimed by India's Intelligence chief Ajit Doval. Doval claimed that if the Taliban hijackers did not have

neg: Kandagar nationals on board in what would be called "The Aerostan incident". The aircraft was forced to land at a Taliban controlled airfield near Kandahar. The men were held prisoners for more than one year by the Taliban which controlled about half of Afghanistan at the time during the Civil war in Afghanistan (1992–1996). The movie follows their captivity, day-to-day survival, and escape from Taliban. Unexpected negligence from Russian diplomats caused the prisoners to take steps toward their freedom themselves. The captain was forced to teach Taliban soldiers to fly the plane, and the rest of the hostages were allowed to

neg: United States invasion of Afghanistan take advantage of a chance to make crucial gains against the Taliban. They insisted it was the time for a cease-fire and an arms embargo. At the time, Pakistan began a "Berlin-like airlift to resupply and re-equip the Taliban", financed with Saudi money. U.S. policy toward Afghanistan changed after the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. Subsequently, Osama bin Laden was indicted for his involvement in the embassy bombings. In 1999 both the U.S. and the United Nations enacted sanctions against the Taliban via United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267, which demanded the Taliban surrender Osama bin Laden for trial in the

neg: Ethnic violence in Afghanistan and kidnapping when they were disarming Pashtuns accused of being former Taliban supporters in northern Afghanistan during the early stages of the War in Afghanistan (2001–present) which removed the dominantly Pashtun Taliban from power. In 2010 the Afghan President Hamid Karzai set up a panel to investigate continuing ethnic violence as he believes it is hampering the military efforts to contain the Taliban insurgency. Ethnic violence in Afghanistan Ethnic violence in Afghanistan has played a role in the wars in Afghanistan. There are about a dozen ethnic groups in Afghanistan, they include: Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, and others who make

neg: United States invasion of Afghanistan not apply it to Afghanistan?" As formulated earlier by Mullah Omar, the demand for evidence was attached to a suggestion that bin Laden be handed over for trial before an Islamic court in another Muslim country. He did not address the demands to hand over other suspected terrorists or shut down training camps. On 28 September Bush commented "First, there is no negotiations with the Taliban. They heard what I said. And now they can act. And it's not just Mr. bin Laden that we expect to see and brought to justice; it's everybody associated with his organization that's in

neg: Human rights in Afghanistan Human rights in Afghanistan Human rights in Afghanistan is a topic of some controversy and conflict. While the Taliban were well known for numerous human rights abuses, several human rights violations continue to take place in the post-Taliban government era. Afghanistan has an interesting strong human rights framework within its constitution. A bill of rights is enshrined in chapter two of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's constitution. The right to life and liberty are constitutionally protected as are the right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence for all persons. This gives the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan a

neg: This Is What Winning Looks Like film "shows what most coalition forces in Helmand, and Afghanistan more broadly, experience". This Is What Winning Looks Like This Is What Winning Looks Like is a documentary film about the War in Afghanistan by Ben Anderson. Initially in 2007, Anderson was documenting the "undermanned [and] underequipped" British forces fighting the Taliban in Helmand, Afghanistan. The documentary begins in December 2012, when Anderson followed U.S. Marines as they trained Afghan security forces to take control for when U.S. forces leave Afghanistan; the film shows that the transition is less than seamless as there are killings and sexual molestation of children,

neg: Jirga (film) is the Taliban. Mike gets out of the car and scrambles down a nearby cliff to escape the Taliban who shoot at him but do not follow down the cliff. Mike begins to walk towards the village but collapses from the heat and dehydration. Taliban soldiers find him unconscious in the dessert and take him captive, chaining him in a cave. The Taliban men discuss whether to kill Mike but their leader, Sher Khan, wants to interview him first. They speak through an English speaking Taleb, and Mike explains why he is in Afghanistan. Khan tells him that giving the

neg: Afghanistan–Pakistan skirmishes added: The following is an incomplete list of recent events relating to the Afghanistan–Pakistan skirmishes. Most of these events cannot be independently verified because news journalists usually have very limited access to reaching the areas where the fighting take place. Afghanistan–Pakistan skirmishes Since 1949, a series of armed skirmishes and firefights have occurred along the Durand Line (the Afghanistan–Pakistan border) between the Afghan National Security Forces and the Pakistan Armed Forces. The latest hostilities, which are ongoing, began with the overthrow of the Taliban government. Hostilities existed between Afghanistan and the newly independent Pakistan since 1947, when Afghanistan became the

neg: Osama (film) Osama (film) Osama () is a 2003 drama film made in Afghanistan by Siddiq Barmak. The film follows a preteen girl living in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime who disguises herself as a boy, Osama, to support her family. It was the first film to be shot entirely in Afghanistan since 1996, when the Taliban régime banned the creation of all films. The film is an international co-production between companies in Afghanistan, the Netherlands, Japan, Ireland, and Iran. Although the title of the film highlights an allegorical relevance to Osama bin Laden, there is no further similarity. In the film,

neg: Afghanistan Meteorological Authority above, the data is available anywhere in the world under the Kabul ICAO identifier which is OAKB. Afghanistan Meteorological Authority The Afghanistan Meteorological Authority is located in Kabul, Afghanistan. The authority has been led by Abdul Qadeer since the late 1970s. In 1996, Taliban forces sacked its office because weather forecasting had been banned as it was considered to be sorcery. Equipment was ruined and over 100 years worth of weather records were destroyed. Because of the ban, farmers were eventually harmed because drought information and forecasting could not take place. Also, in 1998, an Ariana Afghan Airlines flight flew

neg: Afghanistan Meteorological Authority Afghanistan Meteorological Authority The Afghanistan Meteorological Authority is located in Kabul, Afghanistan. The authority has been led by Abdul Qadeer since the late 1970s. In 1996, Taliban forces sacked its office because weather forecasting had been banned as it was considered to be sorcery. Equipment was ruined and over 100 years worth of weather records were destroyed. Because of the ban, farmers were eventually harmed because drought information and forecasting could not take place. Also, in 1998, an Ariana Afghan Airlines flight flew into unexpected weather, causing it to crash into a mountain, killing 45 people. During the Soviet occupation

neg: 5th Special Forces Group (United States) Mazar-e Sharif. By 18 November 2001, 10 ODAs from 5th Special Forces Group were operating in Afghanistan. The well-placed ordnance dropped on the Taliban by the air power controlled by Task Force Dagger forced the Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces to continually pull back. The rapidity with which the enemy resistance crumbled eliminated the U.S. military's plans to deploy significant conventional ground forces. The Taliban and Al Qaeda forces were defeated within two months. It could have happened more quickly, but the Bush administration was fearful that without a provisional government to take over Kabul, the Northern Alliance would commit atrocities

neg: Battles of Mazar-i-Sharif (1997–98) Majid Rouzi and Abdul Ghaffar Pahlawan met with Taliban commanders Mullah Abdul Razzaq and Mullah Ghaus in Baghdis. There they agreed that Malik would betray Dostum, capture Ismail Khan and take control of the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. According to some sources the deal was a three-point proposal in which it was agreed that the Taliban would not disarm northern troops, northern parties would have complete control over Northern Afghanistan and Malik would co-ordinate with the Taliban to bring about an Islamic dispensation. What further motivated Malik's rebellion was the fact that Dostum hadn't paid his troops for five months. On

neg: Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan the detained and fired soldiers were from Taliban strongholds in the south and east, saying they were from all over the country. He said his ministry started an investigation into the attacks, called green-on-blue attacks, within the 195,000-strong Afghan army six months ago. On 18 September 2012 General John Allen suspended all joint combat operations between Afghanistan and American ground units in Afghanistan. Under orders from the General interaction between coalition and Afghan forces would take place only at the battalion level. Allen made the move, along with suspending American-led Afghan training missions, due to growing concern over "insider attacks"

neg: Afghanistan In December 2001, after the Taliban government was overthrown in the Battle of Tora Bora, the Afghan Interim Administration under Hamid Karzai was formed, in which process the Taliban were typecast as 'the bad guys' and left out. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was established by the UN Security Council to help assist the Karzai administration and provide basic security. Taliban forces meanwhile began regrouping inside Pakistan, while more coalition troops entered Afghanistan and began rebuilding the war-torn country. Shortly after their fall from power, the Taliban began an insurgency to regain control of Afghanistan. Over the next decade,

neg: Taliban of human trafficking, abducting women and selling them into sex slavery in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Time" magazine writes: "The Taliban often argued that the restrictions they placed on women were actually a way of revering and protecting the opposite sex. The behavior of the Taliban during the six years they expanded their rule in Afghanistan made a mockery of that claim." The targets for human trafficking were especially women from the Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara and other ethnic groups in Afghanistan. Some women preferred to commit suicide over slavery, killing themselves. During one Taliban and al-Qaeda offensive in 1999 in the

neg: Afghanistan national football team Afghanistan's only appearance and first FIFA international match was at the Olympic Games football tournament in the 1948 Summer Olympic Games when they played Luxembourg on 26 July 1948 and lost 6–0. Prior to 2002, Afghanistan was last seen on the international stage during the 1984 AFC Asian Cup qualification, with its last match lost 6–1 against Jordan on 20 September 1984. Afghanistan played no international games from 1984 to 2002, due to the latter years of the Soviet–Afghan War, civil war in Afghanistan (1992–1996), and the Taliban regime. Following the demise of the Taliban regime, the Afghan national team

neg: War in Afghanistan (1978–present) in Afghanistan and claimed that Pakistani warplanes had, in support of the Taliban, bombarded Afghanistan's last Shia stronghold. The same year Russia said, Pakistan was responsible for the "military expansion" of the Taliban in northern Afghanistan by sending large numbers of Pakistani troops some of whom had subsequently been taken as prisoners by the anti-Taliban United Front. In 2000, the UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo against military support to the Taliban, with UN officials explicitly singling out Pakistan. The UN secretary-general implicitly criticized Pakistan for its military support and the Security Council stated it was "deeply distress[ed] over

neg: Taliban insurgency Afghanistan. By late December, most of Sangin was captured by the Taliban with local Afghan forces surrounded and forced to rely on airlifts for ammunition and food. The gains made by the Taliban have hampered peace talks between them and the government and made rifts appear in the Taliban over negotiations. In response to the new offensives, it was reported that the United States would slow down their withdrawal of troops to help in counter-insurgency operations. "Find information on this subject in: War in Afghanistan (2015–present)#2016, like:" "Find information on this subject in: War in Afghanistan (2015–present)#2017" See War in

neg: Taliban May 2007 did not have a significant effect, other than to damage incipient relations with Pakistan. On February 8, 2009, U.S. commander of operations in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal and other officials said that the Taliban leadership was in Quetta, Pakistan. By 2009, a strong resistance was created, known as Operation Al Faath, the Arabic word for "victory" taken from the Koran, in the form of a guerrilla war. The Pashtun tribal group, with over 40 million members (including Afghans and Pakistanis) had a long history of resistance to occupation forces, so the Taliban may have comprised only a part

neg: The Army and Air Force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan also held six Mil Mi-8 helicopters, five Mi-35s, five L-39Cs, six An-12s, 25 An-26s, a dozen An-24/32s, an IL-18, and a Yakovlev. Their civil air service contained two Boeing 727A/Bs, a Tu-154, five An-24s, and a DHC-6. The Afghan Air Force under the Taliban did not see action in the Afghan Civil War and almost all aircraft were destroyed by the US in the War in Afghanistan (2001–present). Most of the MiG-21 fleet met their end in an Afghan junkyard. The roundel of most of the aircraft was a washed over DRAAF Roundel with the green paint of the Taliban.

neg: General Khodaidad to civil war, Khodaidad used his non alignment by cooperating and supporting the United Nations peace process in achieving national unity and stability in Afghanistan. Khodaidad continued to keep his non-alliance remaining neutral and did not support any particular factions, groups or individuals. His main goal was to bring peace and security for Afghanistan. He tried to keep his good relationship with the people of Afghanistan both living in Afghanistan and outside. However, after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, he sought refuge in London until the fall of the Taliban regime. In 2001, after the U.S.-led invasion at the start

neg: Ahmad Shah Massoud God. Please, tell us the prayer before lunch or dinner in your own language." U.S. policy regarding Massoud, the Taliban and Afghanistan remained ambiguous and differed between the various U.S. government agencies. In 1997, U.S. State Department's Robin Raphel suggested to Massoud he should surrender to the Taliban. He soundly rejected the proposal. At one point in the war, in 1997, two top foreign policy officials in the Clinton administration flew to northern Afghanistan in an attempt to convince Massoud not to take advantage of a strategic opportunity to make crucial gains against the Taliban. In 1998, a U.S. Defense

neg: 2009 Jamrud mosque bombing troops operating in Afghanistan. He said that "Residents of this area had co-operated and helped us a lot. These infidels had warned that they will take revenge. They are the enemy of Pakistan. They are the enemy of Islam." A report said a commander of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan’s Khyber Agency chapter had warned through the media of attacks if the security forces did not vacate the Frontier Corps checkposts in Jamrud and Landikotal by 20 February. Khassadars at the village of Bagyari (the site of the blast) told reporters that a Taliban commander Nazeer Afridi from the Sepah tribe in Bara

neg: Alan Grayson received student deferments and a draft classification as medically unfit for service), and a later 30-second commercial calling Webster "Taliban Dan" and warning viewers that "Religious fanatics try to take away our freedom, in Afghanistan, in Iran and right here in Central Florida." Grayson's ads were criticized for editing video mid-sentence to make Webster appear to say things he did not. Grayson released a toned-down version without the edited video or Taliban references in early October. On Glenn Beck's radio show, Sarah Palin agreed with a co-host's remark, "It's okay if the Republicans lose every seat in the Senate and

neg: Mohammad Rabbani Mohammad Rabbani Mullah Mohammad Rabbani Akhund (1955–15 April 2001) was one of the main leaders of the Taliban movement. He was second in power only to the supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, in the Taliban hierarchy. Rabbani fought the Soviet Union after it invaded Afghanistan in 1979. When the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, he initially stopped fighting. He joined the Taliban in 1994. After years of civil war, he led the Taliban guerrillas in the final assault against the capital, Kabul. He served as Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and head of the advisory

neg: This Is What Winning Looks Like This Is What Winning Looks Like This Is What Winning Looks Like is a documentary film about the War in Afghanistan by Ben Anderson. Initially in 2007, Anderson was documenting the "undermanned [and] underequipped" British forces fighting the Taliban in Helmand, Afghanistan. The documentary begins in December 2012, when Anderson followed U.S. Marines as they trained Afghan security forces to take control for when U.S. forces leave Afghanistan; the film shows that the transition is less than seamless as there are killings and sexual molestation of children, heavy drug addiction, corruption, and false imprisonment of prisoners by Afghan police officers;

neg: CIA activities in Afghanistan was ultimately "attacked" (via air) by the US as a revenge on the attack of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Mullah Omar, Taliban commander, criticized US for their actions and stated that the Taliban will continue to protect Bin Laden. The United States' original goal in Afghanistan was to provide aid and work with the Taliban as if they were another political faction. The CIA stated that it had expressed concern over Bin Laden and his involvement with the Taliban even before the 1998 truck bombings of two United States Embassy buildings in East Africa that resulted in over

neg: Sanctions against Afghanistan Osama bin Laden and his military chief Muhamad Atef were accused in the US District Court of New York for a planned attack on US defense establishments. Following this event, the US delegation to the Security Council legally required to demand the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden. Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s refused to hand over Osama bin Laden. In consequence, the Security Council implemented its first measures under the 1267 sanctions regime. In Resolution 1267, the Security Council justified the sanctions regime by referring to violation of humanitarian law in Afghanistan, discrimination against women and the presence of

neg: Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin Hezb-e-Islami training camps "were taken over by the Taliban and handed over" to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) groups such as the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP). "The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism" reports that, having lost Saudi support when it supported Saddam Hussein and Pakistani support after 1994, "the remainder of Hizb-i Islami merged into al-Qaeda and the Taliban." The Jamestown Foundation describes it having been "sidelined from Afghan politics" for a decade or so after the Taliban takeover of Kabul. Hekmatyar opposed the 2001 American intervention in Afghanistan, and since then has aligned his group (Hezb-e-Islami) with remnants of the Taliban and

neg: Bravo November called out again on operations, with Wilson landing the helicopter despite being low on fuel. After being on duty for over 22 hours, Wilson volunteered to take reinforcements to the front line, returning with two wounded soldiers. For his actions over the 24‑hour period Flt Lt Wilson was awarded the DFC. In 2010, "Bravo November" was involved in another incident while on service in Afghanistan when pilot Flight Lieutenant Ian Fortune was hit by a ricochet from a bullet fired by Taliban fighters during an extraction of injured soldiers. Flt Lt Fortune landed the helicopter in a "hot zone" that