Hitory of Terrorism

Hate groups have existed throughout history, dating back to the Klu Klux Klan in 1865. Numerous hate/terror groups have developed and continue to emerge in the United States and other countries. To begin, hate/terror groups are social groups that publicly advocate and initiate activities that are racial, ethnically, religiously, gender-biased, or biased against any other facet of society. Despite the presence of several domestic and international groups in the United States, the Taliban rose to prominence, particularly after 9/11.From then onwards the United States has been in a constant battle against terrorist groups, especially the Taliban. Initially ties between the Taliban and the United States were not that bitter because it was the United States’ funding that led to the development of the Taliban, but later on, the Taliban deceived United States’ trust and used the same weapons against them.

All these past terrorist activities have made it necessary to address this threat of symbolic violence that has consistently been enveloping our world. Local, as well as international organizations, need to be analyzed to see their hand in planting the seed of terrorism in our society. Hence, this research aims to present the origins of the Taliban terrorist group, their operational style in spreading terror throughout the world along with their current global grievances, in particular with the United States soil. Moreover, this paper will propose solutions for reducing Taliban’s influence without employing military power.

Radicalization and Religion Inspired Terrorism

There has been a lot of controversy in defining terrorism accurately. Scholars have still not able to find common ground in determining the most accurate use of the term terrorism. Most of the definitions available online have been written by government agencies according to their bias and interests. According to the present definition of terrorism, it symbolized the lack of legitimacy as well as morality. According to the definition of terrorism provided by Randall D. Law, terrorism is more of a “tactic, a means to an end.” Terrorist groups have thus created a state of chaos and violence through their various symbolic acts. These actions are only conducted once the ideology behind their purpose has been fully established by the terror group (Law, 2009).

International Jihadist Terrorism

The State Department has notified that there are almost 59 terrorist groups that have made it to the list of the existence of the international terrorist groups. The majority of these groups like the Palestine Liberation Front, Hezbollah, ISIS, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Al-Qaeda are incredibly dominant in the Middle East areas. Palestinians terrorist activities emerged after the guerilla warfare in the Six Day War, thus leading to the occurrence of unfortunate events at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.

From this moment onwards, jihadist terror groups have kept on emerging and have widened their target from the Israeli world to the Western World. The most well-known example that has been mentioned on several occasions is the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York by Osama Bin Laden and his fellow Al-Qaeda members. Followed by this, another attack took place by the Al-Qaeda on the USS Cole in 2000.

The trend of lone wolf terrorist has also been becoming increasingly prevalent, for example, the 2015 Charlie Hebdo Shooting, where two French Muslim killed people on the basis that publications had been circulated that disrespected the teachings of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.). Similarly, the 2005 London bombing attack also witnessed a similar situation, where four jihadist bombers killed almost 52 people while injuring hundreds of civilians.

Domestic Terrorism

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, around 917 terror groups exist in the United States. From 1999 to 2016, the number of hate groups has been significantly rising from 457 to 917 respectively, however, a slight drop was observed from 2012 to 2014. A very well-known example is the Westboro Baptist has been making people against the homosexuals and is not willing to accept their point of view; however, they do not conduct any violent acts. Hence, this shows that this list is not just restricted to terrorist groups.

Furthermore, this list also consists of cult-like movements like the Christian Identity, which is a widespread white movement in almost 16 states. This group has given homage to bombers like the Centennial Park’s bomber, Rudolph. Similarly, the Patriot Movement is known for opposing the ideology of the New World Order. Influential people like Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols have been a part of the movement. Once again both of these were domestic bombers and had caused widespread chaos in the Oklahoma City.

Taliban

As mentioned above, the Taliban’s presence dates back to as far as 1979. The Taliban were formerly addressed as the Mujahidin, who were defined as those who struggled against the British Raj in the 19th century. Since, the word Mujahidin stems from the Arabic word, ”jihad,“ it refers to Islamic warriors who struggle or fight (Dora, 2009). However, they had to face a lot of resentment and hatred at the hands of the Soviet invasion as well as the existing government of Najibullah in Afghanistan. This led to continuous divisions between the Afghani community, thus creating an atmosphere of constant fear and violence.

The Taliban took advantage of chaotic and weakening conditions and thus, emerged in Afghanistan and demanded that the Afghani community should follow the Shari’a law (Islamic law). By Saudi Arabia, the Taliban aimed at establishing a pure Islamic state, but mostly under the fear of violence, not the essential principles of Islam. Their ideology was not even close to the principles of Islam because they had reshaped them according to their interests. Despite being involved assaulting people physically as well as sexually, the Taliban were still welcomed by the majority of the Afghanis, because they managed to provide security in the areas that were under their control.

Since they were able to overthrow all sorts of resistance, they had managed to conquer most of the Afghanistan and established their part of Afghanistan under the title of ”Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” by 1998. While Burhanuddin Rabbani was titled as their president, the Taliban government was only acknowledged by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates at that time. Infamous terrorist leaders like Osama Bin Laden have been known to belong to the Taliban extremist group. Despite strict actions taken by the UN in 1999, the Taliban regime continued to plunder Afghanistan and disobey all internal laws regarding human rights.

Additionally, Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan also played a crucial role in the creation of the ruthless Taliban regime. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1973, they were not pleased with the presence of the Mujahidin forces and their aims to overthrow Soviet Union’s army. Simultaneously, the Soviet Union had been involved in a cold war with the United States, which gave the United States the opportunity to fund the Taliban regime (Mujahidin), so that they could diminish Soviet’s army in Afghanistan. Thus, the Mujahidin forces rose as the dominant power in this scenario, backed up by the United States, Saudi Arabia along with, Pakistan and were able to defeat the Soviet forces (Gibbs, 2000) successfully.

However, once the United States noticed that they had been victorious in defeating the Soviet Union through the Mujahidin forces, they conveniently disappeared from the whole situation and left Pakistan alone to deal with the post-war effects. Followed by this, the United States realized that they had funded the wrong side when the Mujahidin also attacked them in the form of the 9/11 attacks. Ironically, the $3 billion worth of ammunition that had been spent in defeating the Soviet Union was now being used against the United States. Hence, scholars have openly criticized the United States and Pakistan for sowing the seeds for the development of the Taliban by providing them with not just military services, but also logistical advice.

Moreover, As the Taliban army progressed; they marked their so called brand of justice, thus allowing them to have ultimate territorial control. Its principles of law were based on Pashtuns’ pre-Islamic tribal code and the Sharia law devised by the Wahhabi leaders. They gave little weight to social services and focused more on enforcing women to be fully covered from head to toe by wearing a ”burqa“ or a ”chaddar.“ Followed by this, they also banned sources of entertainment like music and television and ordered the imprisonment of men, whose beards were not long according to their standards (Laub, 2014).

It has been reported that almost 1300 unregistered madrasas have opened in Afghanistan now, but they only focus on teaching religious education, thus posing a threat to those who are obtaining the mainstream education, for example, the Ashraf-ul Madaras is educating 6,000 girls only about the Islamic teachings. The Afghani society has been characterized by patriarchal traditions and has thus denied women rights in property as well as choosing their life partner. To make sure that the women remain in darkness, they have not just forbidden them workforce and the education system, but have also forbidden them from traveling without their male members of the family. Thus, indirectly restricting them to the four walls of their home, which is entirely different from the ideology of the authentic Islamic teachings (Telesetsky, 2013).

Moreover, the PHR report laid tremendous stress on the oppression of Afghani women even in the department of health care. It was reported that around 22 hospitals were asked to remove female physicians, nurses and any other personnel from the premises, thus not leaving enough medical facilities for women to get themselves treated in. The only facility that was accessible only had 35 beds and no access to the necessary supplies for the proper functioning of a hospital (Dubitsky, 1999).

Mullah Omar has been Taliban’s leader since 1996 to 2001 and allowed him to earn the title of Amir al- mu’min in, or ”commander of the faithful.“ After the advent of the embassy attacks in East Africa and the 9/11 attack, the United States demanded Omar to hand over Osama Bin Laden, but their refusal to hand over the infamous leader of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group posed a threat to the stability of the United States. Despite the efforts made by the United States to join forces with ethnic minorities like Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazaras in northern Afghanistan, they still were not able to overthrown Mullah’s army.

It has also been reported that the Taliban has bred in Pakistan with the emergence of the terrorist group, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan or Pakistani Taliban and thus, continue to shatter the roots of Pakistan’s political and social stability (Laub, 2014). Subsequently, after the United States, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia cut back their funds, the Taliban resorted to activities like narcotics production, trafficking, and illicit mining and have noted to earn revenues as much as $400 million per year. However, during his regime, Mullah Omar did implement rules against opium production and distribution; he was not able to remove the seeds that had been sown long ago. Hence the presence of unlimited production of opium has allowed Afghanistan to emerge from a landlocked nation to one of the most prominent narco country, where all the activities of the Afghanistan revolve around the business of opium distribution.

Analysis

To devise efficient and sound policies to fight this war on terror against the Taliban, it is important for the active government to intervene in this turmoil. While analyzing the situation, it is essential to observe the characteristics that give these terrorist groups the right to exercise so much control like it is a semi-government organization. Increased Taliban attacks have not just raised the question of security threats, but have also forced people to examine the political, military stability of the United States.

I strongly agree with this perspective because once people start doubting the government, they start asking the maintenance of everything around them and since they are so vulnerable at that moment, so it makes easier for the Taliban to brainwash them, thus manipulating them into joining the jihadist movement. Especially, the younger generation has been noticed to be drawn towards such groups, thus leading to their recruitment and training without their families and friends know about it. This way the military base of the Taliban keeps on widening, thus posing the greater threat to the security and stability of the United States. Hence, if the government engages in implementing initiatives that will keep a check on the younger generation in schools and universities and train them about the prevalence of such groups and their ideology will help in curbing the harmful effects of Taliban’s prevalence.

The second possible remedy is to try to devise more efficient solutions for the issues that have entangled Afghanistan and Pakistan. I have observed that the United States has been continuously changing its stance on its ties with Pakistan. At one point it is aid Pakistan in safeguarding its nuclear weapons, but on the other side, it is working on eradicating the increasing nuclear proliferation. Similarly, it is trying to achieve a more peaceful agreement with Afghanistan, while making sure that the Taliban do not gain entry in Afghanistan. All the goals seem to contradict each other, thus showing that the United States needs to employ a more clear and focused stance, primarily for Pakistan. This is so that Pakistan becomes their ally and with their aid, they can eliminate the existence of terrorist groups, which is in the interest of both these states.

As mentioned above, keeping the interest of the local community is critical if the United States wants to reduce the control of terrorist groups. I believe this will not only help them making them more aware of their surroundings but also aid the government in devising tailor-made programs that will allow them to address the needs of the community. This will also help in creating stronger ties between the administration and the civilians and make them more united in their fight against combating terrorist groups.

Conclusion

Since the United States has always been involved in the Middle Eastern countries, their local issues have become intertwined with the Western issues, thus leading to widespread global matters that have posed a threat to the security and well-being of people globally. Due to Taliban’s growing influence throughout the world, thus leading to the presence of their recruits globally has made the current global status unstable. Along with this, their flourishing opium productions has managed to financially support them at a much greater level than any other source of income, thus, making it difficult for the United States to overthrow the Afghani economy overnight. Their widespread influence has posed a lot of threat to the existence of the United States and its political relations with other states. Hence, for the United States to overcome this menacing problem and safeguard its society’s well-being, it is important for them to reconsider their current strategies and shape them according to the interest of its allies like Pakistan as well the American nation.

References

Dora, K. K. (2009). Migration in Afghanistan: History, Current Trends, and Future Prospects. Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, IS Academie, 4, 1-40.

Dubitsky, S. (1999). Health Care Crisis Facing Women Under Taliban Rule in Afghanistan. Human Rights Belief, 6(2), 10-11.

Gibbs, D. N. (2000). Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion in Retrospect. International Politics, 37, 233-246.

Laub, Z. (2014). The Taliban in Afghanistan. Council on Foreign Relations, 7(4), 1-9. Retrieved June 11, 2017, from Council On Foreign Relations: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/taliban-afghanistan

Law, R. D. (2009). Terrorism: A History. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Telesetsky, A. (2013). In the Shadows and Behind the Veil: Women in Afghanistan under the Taliban Rule. Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice, 13(1), 293-305.