What is the Taliban?

The Taliban, or "students" in the Pashto language, emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan, following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. The group first took power in Afghanistan in 1996 but were ousted by a US-led military coalition in 2001. Twenty years of war followed, during which tens of thousands of people were killed and millions were displaced, before the Taliban resumed control of the country in 2021. The Islamist group believes in an austere version of