Taliban - the world's most extreme and radical Islamic organization that inspires fascination, controversy, and especially fear in both the Muslim world and the West - has been brought into sharp focus in Ahmed Rashid's book "Taliban". This enormously insightful book gives an account of Taliban's rise to power, its impact on Afghanistan and the Central Asian region. The book also analyzes the wider regional and geopolitical implications of the Taliban's advent to power and the role that Taliban has to play in oil and gas companies decisions. The author also discusses about the changing attitudes of various countries like America and Saudi Arabia towards Taliban and its effects on Afghanistan.
The word Taliban has been derived from the term talib, which means a student of an Islamic seminary. These seminaries have existed for thousands of years and Islamic boys have gone to these schools to study the Koran, Islamic law, in order to become preachers.
This photo is caught from a video film that has be...
Besudi Hazara chieftains, taken by John Burke in 1...
A mullah of Day Kundi speaks to a crowd of village...The Taliban took this name because it is a symbol of Islam, and a symbol of doing good, and bringing people around to an Islamic viewpoint, and imposing law and order. It was a name that was initially welcomed by the Afghan people.
To understand the enmity between the Hazaras and Iran and the Taliban it is very important to clarify here that the Hazars and Iranians are Shias while the Taliban are mostly Sunnis. And for me, the main reason why the Taliban hate Hazaras and Iran and why Iran and Hazaras hate Taliban is because of the one mentioned above. The enmity between the Sunni Pashtuns and the Shia Hazaras goes a long way but the Taliban brought a new edge to the conflict for they treated all the Shias as hypocrites and beyond the pale of true Islam.
The earliest clashes...