People cannot help asking, what kind of organization is the Taliban? Why can we persist in fighting under the attack of the Afghan government and NATO allies led by the United States?
be born in troubled times
In the early 1990s, Afghanistan just ended its 10-year war with the Soviet Union. By July 1994, Afghanistan was plunged into a full-scale civil war. Hundreds of warlords, large and small, are divided for turf and property, and warlords are fighting and armed conflicts abound. Some warlords even kidnap and rape women, committing all kinds of evils, and the people's lives are miserable. I hope that the country will be stable and unified as soon as possible. It is against this background that a group of college students from refugee camps in Afghanistan joined forces to form the Taliban organization. "Taliban" refers to Islamic students. At that time, there were only about 800 students, all of whom were educated and wanted to revive the country.
The rise of the Taliban and its rapid growth in a short period of time are not only due to the Pashtuns, the main ethnic group in Afghanistan, but also to the public opinion, which put forward slogans such as "eliminating warlords, restoring peace and rebuilding the country" and "building Afghanistan into a unified, democratic and prosperous Islamic Republic", advocating equal rights, developing commerce and making the people rich. Therefore, the Taliban won the support of the people in a wide range. In addition, with the support of Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other countries, the Taliban has become the legitimate government of Afghanistan.
Insist on fighting
Facing the attack of the United States and the Northern Alliance, the Taliban regime voluntarily abandoned Kabul, Kandahar and other cities, and moved to rural Afghanistan on 200 1 1. It quickly disappeared without a trace, which caught the allies off guard. Then the United States turned its attention to the formation of the Afghan government, and the remaining thousands of key members of the Taliban began to reorganize. After several years of dormancy, in 2005, Taliban leader Omar moved the think tank "Quetta Consultation Conference" to the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and then attacked the Afghan government and US military targets by means of terrorist attacks. And it soon became active, because the United States was too busy to pay attention to the Iraq issue. In 2008, the active area reached more than 70% in Afghanistan. In 2006, the Taliban caused 4,000 deaths every month, which rose to 8,000 in 2007 and declined after 2008.
After that, the United States shifted the focus of its security strategy back to Afghanistan. In 20 10, the "Afghanistan strategy" was implemented and the number of troops was increased by 15000. The Afghanistan issue and the Pakistan issue are put together, and the joint attack by NATO allies and Afghan government forces has achieved results. By 20 13, the Taliban had completely controlled only four of the 373 regions in the country, and its sphere of influence ranged from 0. However, the Taliban remained active and continued to harass Afghan government officials and military police through armed attacks and terrorist attacks.
inner differentiation
In 20 15, there was a serious division and differentiation within the Taliban, and even a serious exchange of fire among various factions. However, the struggle for internal power did not affect its activities. At present, the Taliban's activities have not weakened, and the security situation in Afghanistan is becoming more and more severe as the US military tries to withdraw.
At present, the main body of the Taliban is the consultative conference, which is the main administrative body of the Taliban. The Taliban has held several consultative meetings covering different factions, including:
Quetta Consultative Conference is the highest administrative and military command center, responsible for the work of specific departments, including special operations department, intelligence department, finance department, training department, media propaganda department, R&D department and so on. Quetta Consultative Conference consists of Milan Shah Consultative Conference, covering Milan Shah, Hakani and North Waziristan tribal areas; And Peshawar Consultation Meeting, covering Peshawar and its eastern tribal areas. The Quetta Consultative Conference is responsible for most parts of Afghanistan, except Loya Bagdiya and logar, which are under the jurisdiction of Milanshar. The Peshawar Consultative Conference covers eastern Afghanistan, including Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar, Nuristan and Kabul.
The Northern Consultative Conference, which does not recognize Quetta's authority and is headquartered in Badakhshan, was an organization that broke away from the Peshawar Consultative Conference in 20 15, including several front forces. It claims to control northeastern Afghanistan and Kapisa province, and it also infiltrates into the north.
The Mashhad Consultative Conference, which does not recognize Quetta's authority, is a relatively autonomous consultative conference with its headquarters in Mashhad, Iran. Its sphere of influence is mainly in western Afghanistan, but it is also waiting for opportunities to develop to the north and south.
The rasul Consultative Conference, headquartered in Farah, Afghanistan, which does not recognize Quetta's authority, is a consultative conference that openly confronts Quetta. The sphere of influence is mainly in the west and south.
firm discipline
Unlike other political forces in Afghanistan, including the Afghan government, the Taliban has strict discipline. This is also one of the sources of Taliban power. This also enables the Taliban to effectively govern the grassroots society in Afghanistan after the reorganization.
The Taliban has formed a "shadow government", and its "Quetta Consultative Conference" has a shadow government exactly like the current Afghan government. Under the Quetta consultation meeting, there is a "regional governor" who is responsible for local affairs. Provincial and district-level systems are mainly located in eastern and southern Afghanistan. The provincial structure consists of "Shadow Governor", "Provincial Military Commission" and "Shadow Court". The district-level system is mainly composed of "shadow mayor" and "district-level military commission". The "shadow mayor" usually appoints a deputy to take charge of civil affairs and social affairs. This is almost no different from a well-functioning government.
Although it is a shadow government, the problem is that in some areas, it is more efficient than the Afghan government. For example, the dispute over movable property and real estate in southern Afghanistan, the judicial system of the Afghan government will take several years to give a result, and the corruption of Afghan government officials, and the formalities for going to the Taliban can only be completed in a few hours. In addition, the Taliban pay more attention to the construction of internal discipline than the Afghan government, especially for common public security problems such as adultery, kidnapping, school attacks, internal torture and child molestation. There must be other political forces in Afghanistan, which not only make the Taliban organization more efficient, but also establish prestige and win support among the people. The Taliban also actively changed some extremist practices and joined hands with other armed factions to lay the foundation for gaining more support in the chaotic and fragmented Afghan society.
Armed and tough
The Taliban's armed forces are mostly Pashtuns, but there are also many Tajiks, Uzbeks and Baluchis, as well as some Hazaras and Shiites, who have been fighting the Taliban for a long time. The purpose of accepting Shiites is to fight against Iranian-backed militia groups. Soldiers are generally between 16 and 24 years old, very young. Many of them will resign once they get married and have children, otherwise most of them will leave the Taliban forces before the age of 30 because of health problems. The maximum mobile force of the Taliban on the battlefield is about 40,000, and there are many militia, which is basically its highest mobilization ability at present.
Therefore, the Taliban is not an armed organization in the general sense, but a political organization, because it has certain governance ability and strong integration ability. Of course, the situation of the Taliban is not optimistic. Allied air strikes have greatly damaged its assembly camps and logistics bases, making it impossible to achieve large-scale offensive positions and relying on guerrilla, infiltration and terrorist attacks to occupy the city for a short time. However, once the air combat power of NATO allies is withdrawn, the Taliban will have an advantage, which will be a severe test for the current Afghan government. In this way, the Taliban will not disappear easily, and the future is an indispensable part of Afghan politics, and its development and evolution have a great influence on the future of Afghanistan.