Ī report by the London School of Economics (LSE) claimed to provide the most concrete evidence yet that the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI is providing funding, training and sanctuary to the Taliban on a scale much larger than previously thought. The United States Agency for International Development is investigating the possibility that kickbacks from its contracts are being funneled to the Taliban. On 28 July 2009, Richard Holbrooke, the United States special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said that money transfers from Western Europe and the Gulf States exceeded the drug trade earnings and that a new task force had been formed to shut down this source of funds. While the pre-2001 Taliban suppressed opium production, the current insurgency "relies on opium revenues to purchase weapons, train its members, and buy support." In 2001, Afghanistan produced only 11% of the world's opium, today it produces 93% of the global crop, and the drug trade accounts for half of Afghanistan's GDP. He was replaced by Mullah Akhter Mansoor, although some senior Taliban members do not recognize him as their leader. The main Taliban leader was Mullah Omar, who reportedly died in April 2013. The Taliban leadership operates in so-called leadership councils (shuras).
Taliban insurgency full#
The Afghan Taliban's main goal is a full withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and the fall of the Afghan central government under Ashraf Ghani. Additionally, there is the Hezb-e Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar which is a separate entity from the Taliban. Primarily these are the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network led by Sirajuddin Haqqani (which considers itself part of the Taliban). There are different groups in Afghanistan operating against the NATO coalition forces. The will of the Pakistani paramilitaries stationed at border crossings to prevent such infiltration was called into question, and Pakistani military operations proved of little use. Major bases, a few with as many as 200 men, were created in the mountainous tribal areas of Pakistan by the summer of 2003. Most of the new recruits were drawn from the madrassas or religious schools of the tribal areas of Pakistan, from which the Taliban had originally arisen. Small mobile training camps were established along the border with Pakistan by al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives to train new recruits in guerrilla warfare and tactics, according to Afghan sources and a United Nations report. Pamphlets distributed in secret during the night also began to appear in many villages in the former Taliban heartland in southeastern Afghanistan. During September 2002, Taliban forces began a recruitment drive in Pashtun areas in both Afghanistan and Pakistan to launch a renewed " jihad" or struggle against the Afghan government and the U.S-led coalition. forces throughout the summer of 2002, the remnants of the Taliban gradually began to regain their confidence and launched the insurgency that Mullah Mohammed Omar had promised during the Taliban's last days in power. 1.4 Social context: poverty and corruptionĪfter evading U.S.These are intended to disrupt the network of the insurgents and force them to the negotiation table. In response to this, major operations were started inside Afghanistan against the insurgents. Īfter the May 2011 death of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, many prominent Afghan figures were assassinated by the insurgents, including Mohammed Daud Daud, Ahmed Wali Karzai, Jan Mohammad Khan, Ghulam Haider Hamidi, Burhanuddin Rabbani and others. According to reports by the United Nations and others, the insurgents were responsible for 75-80% of civilian casualties between 2009 to 2011.
They often use terrorist attacks in which their victims are usually Afghan civilians. The Haqqani Network, Hezbi Islami, and smaller al Qaeda groups have also joined the insurgency. The leader of the Taliban is Akhtar Mansoor who heads the Quetta Shura. Regional countries, particularly Pakistan and Iran, are often accused of funding and supporting the insurgent groups. The Taliban conduct low-intensity warfare against civilians, the Afghan National Security Forces and their NATO trainers. The insurgency has spread to some degree over the Durand Line border to neighboring Pakistan, in particular the Waziristan region and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Taliban forces are fighting against the Afghan government, led by President Hamid Karzai, and against the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The Taliban insurgency began shortly after the group's fall from power following the 2001 War in Afghanistan. Template:Country data Pakistan(Formerly-Till 2001)