For Afghans and international observers of a certain age, it looks like history is repeating itself.
The Taliban – which means “the students” in Pashto – seized control of Afghanistan in 1996 after capturing Kabul from various rival groups in the Afghan civil war. They established a government based on their extreme interpretation of Islamic Sharia law and ruled for five years. The Taliban regime was then toppled in 2001 by the US – led invasion of Afghanistan.
Here, Afghanistan experts offer insight into the Taliban – then and now – and explain the United States’ role in Afghanistan’s collapse.
Have the Taliban changed over the past two decades?
That’s the question , director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, set out to answer in his .
Ahmadzai, who is from Afghanistan, explained that, “During the Taliban’s five-year rule, women were prohibited from working, attending school or leaving home without a male relative. Men had…
