The Taliban
When human rights were
sacrificed in favor of “religious
law”…but at what cost?
A brief overview of Afghanistan
• Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and
made the country “Communist.”
• 10 years later, a force called the
Mujahideen (a group of men calling
themselves Jihadists) drove out the
Soviets and decided to create a
government in which they would share
power equally…
When everything goes awry
• Soon, arguments among the Mujahideen
began to grow and allegiances within the
group to certain members began to take
shape.
• The group separated into single warlords
who would start to fight for control of the
country.
The Chaos Begins
• The feudal style warlords rained down
their rockets on Afghanistan, killing
thousands and forcing millions of Afghans
to flee their country into neighboring
Pakistan and Iran.
• This included the men who would become
the future Taliban…
The rise of oppression
• While in refugee camps, the Taliban set up
schools, training men for their mission.
• Once they had enough money, they
returned to Afghanistan, killing any
Mujahideen who opposed them.
• They imposed a religious set of laws
known as Sharia; the strictest
interpretation ever seen.
What happened next
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The Taliban forbid:
*Singing
*Dancing
*Flying Kites
*Women leaving their homes without a
male escort and covering the burqa.
• *The growth/sale of opium
Ethnic Cleansing
• The Taliban believed one group in
Afghanistan, the Hazras, were inferior to
all other ethnic groups.
• Hazras were forbidden to hold any position
or job of status in Afghanistan and many
were brutally tortured or murdered.
• “Afghanistan is full of garbage and it’s my
job to clean it out.”