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. After the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, the Taliban were quickly ousted from power. However, they regrouped as an insurgent force, waging guerrilla warfare against U.S., NATO, and Afghan government forces. Over the next two decades, they gradually regained influence in rural areas through intimidation, negotiations, and parallel governance structures.
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 and southern Afghanistan who had been educated in traditional Islamic schools, and fought during the Soviet–Afghan War. In August 2021, after the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces, the Taliban rapidly advanced across Afghanistan and took control of Kabul without significant resistance. They reinstated the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”
