Description:
The Taliban Movement or just
Taliban, is a
Sunni Islamist nationalist pro-Pashtun Movement which effectively ruled most of
Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001. It gained diplomatic recognition from only three States: the
United Arab Emirates,
Pakistan, and
Saudi Arabia, as well as the unrecognized government of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. The most influential members, including
Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Movement, were simple village mullahs (junior Islamic religious scholars), most of whom had studied in Madrassas in
Pakistan.
The Taliban movement derived mainly from Pashtuns of
Afghanistan and
North-West Frontier Province (
NWFP) of
Pakistan, but also included many non-Afghan volunteers from the Arab world, as well as Eurasia,
South Asia, and Southeast
Asia.