The evolution of the Taliban : an assessment of political shifts in Afghanistan prior to 1996 and after 2001 and how these have affected the internal policies of the Taliban movement

Abstract

Formerly an Islamic Student’s association with Nationalistic aims and now a militant, drug-dealing and violent Islamist group, the Taliban movement has remained one of the most enduring issues of 21st century international affairs, able to consistently make headlines globally. This dissertation seeks to evaluate and chronicle, through the use of the Comparative Research Method, the evolution of the Taliban movement since its formation in the 1990s and use this to objectively prove that the on-going democratisation and liberalisation process in Afghanistan and, albeit to a lesser extent, Pakistan has been leading to violent and conservative ideological and tactical shifts within the Taliban movement. To do this, it became necessary to analyse Afghanistan’s political history and the related academic debate in order to provide an adequate explanation for the emergence of the Taliban movement in the power-vacuum left behind after the Soviet Withdrawal and how the movement was successfully able to capitalise on Afghani’s natural distrust of foreign powers and a growing feeling of disenfranchisement by many in order to gain power so quickly. For this purpose, Kindleberger’s ‘Hegemonic Stability Theory’ is harkened to regularly as it was seen to provide the best explanation of Afghanistan’s current political problems and instabilities. The fulfilment of the dissertation’s main aim is fundamental because it allows us as observers to assess the Taliban movement’s future, as well as the future stability of Afghanistan as international forces prepare to leave the country by the end of the decade. The concluding sections of the dissertation provide recommendations for future courses of military action in the region, commenting that total International withdrawal is generally a bad idea and would only further destabilise the region, especially as the Taliban movement becomes embroiled in conflict with competing Islamist groups as well as with internal conflict.