Taliban

The Taliban are an Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan. The Taliban's main objectives are the removal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan, and the restoration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Since the Taliban takeover and establishment of their de facto authority in 2021, the Taliban have refocused their efforts on internal cohesion and demonstrating authority domestically. The Taliban has used terrorist tactics, including the extensive use of improvised explosive devices and suicide bombings, to further their political objectives and are known to attack civilian targets, government compounds, military targets in built-up urban areas, as well as infrastructure projects. In 2011, the Taliban were responsible for the majority of civilian casualties in Afghanistan and carried out a number of attacks on girls' schools in particular. In January 2018, the Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack in Kabul which utilized an ambulance as a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device to kill at least 95 people and wound more than 150. The Taliban have publicly carried out widespread and systemic violence, including beatings, torture, forced amputation, forced disappearances, public executions, and extrajudicial killings. In July 2020, a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the Shah Wali Kot police district headquarters in Kandahar. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack that killed three police officers and wounded at least 14 others, both civilians and police. Both before and after the formation of the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban have focused on the targeting of civilians for moral and political offences. This includes severe restrictions on women and girls in all aspects of public life, including dress code, education and employment, as well as strict enforcement of religious observance, such as attendance for men in mosques at prayer time. Public floggings and executions have become a common occurrence again since their reintroduction following the takeover in 2021. For example, in December 2022, 27 men and women were publicly flogged in a stadium in the northern province of Parwan on a variety of charges and in June 2024, 63 men and women were publicly flogged in the northern Sari Pul province.