The Taliban are members of the Muslim Afghan mujahedeen rebels. They fought with the other ruling factions of Afthanistan against the Russians who had invaded their country. Governments from Saudi Arabia, Europe, and the United States sent money and military supplies into Afghanistan to help defeat the Russian army. Russia at the time was the second most powerful country on the earth. The ethnic factions in Afghanistan defeated Russia and immediately a civil war in Afghanistan took place and is still going on today. The Taliban came to be the ruling power of Afghanistan in 1996 after a terrible battle with other groups of mujahedeen rebels over the capital city of Kabul. A movement by the Taliban called 'Students of Islamic Knowledge Movement' spread across Afghanistan in just one year's time. It is still unclear who exactly supported this movement and how the Taliban were so successful in such a short period of time. The Taliban fought with the other mujahedeen rebel factions and captured Kabul in 1995. Soon after capturing Kabul the Shiite-Communist Confederation, who was in control of Afghanistans government, was taken out of power. The Taliban and the rest of the mujahedeen rebel factions began to fight over who would rule Afghanistan. The Taliban won the fight and took over control of Afghanistan. A civil war between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance who did not want the Taliban to rule Afghanistan has been going on for 20 years.

After the war with Russia the country had no way of enforcing laws, so many crimes were done to the citizens of Afghanistan. It was impossible to travel around the country without being robbed or killed. Drugs were made and sold around the world so that military supplies could be bought. The country was in a constant war with itself. The Taliban movement took control of the country and made it safer from everyone but itself. Under the rule of the Taliban the people of Afghanistan lived in poverty and fear. The Taliban claimed that it was following the law of Islam, their religion. They used their understanding of Islamic Law to keep the people under control.

In 1996 the Taliban invited Osama bin Ladin to come to Afghanistan. He is the leader of the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda and has the same strict view of Islamic Law as the Taliban do. Bin Ladin helped the Taliban and other ethnic factions to defeat the Russians and he stayed in the country after the war was over. He has led the Al-Qaeda terrorist group for many years in their attacks on other countries. His main target is the United States who helped the most in the war against Russia.

CNN: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/taliban/
Islamic Taliban Movement: http://www.islam.org.au/articles/18/taliban1.htm
CIA Factbook: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/