Who Are the

Taliban?

Before the Taliban

The rise of the Taliban started in 1979 when troops from the Soviet Union, an area that consisted of Russia and 15 other countries, invaded Afghanistan to attempt to set up communism.

Communism Communism is something that we will talk a lot more about later this year.In short, it is an economic system where everyone gets paid the same amount of money regardless of what jobs they have.A doctor gets paid the same as a street sweeper.

The Strong Soviets

Over 100,000 soviet troops were sent in to control the cities and towns.The people and army of Afghanistan did not have the appropriate means for defeating the Soviet Union without some help.

Help ComesThe help came in the form of the United States.The United States did not actually come to fight the Soviets, they provided the Afghani soldiers, the Mujahideen, with weapons, especially Anti-Aircraft weapons.

United States Helps Afghanistan

Cold WarThe reason the United States helped Afghanistan was because the U.S. and the Soviet Union were enemies and were involved in the Cold War.This was a long on-going political and military tension between the two countries.

The Cold War

Soviets Leave Afghanistan With the

help of the U.S. weapons, the Soviets withdrew their forces on February 15, 1989 after nine years of Soviet occupation

An End to the War

Civil WarAfter the Soviets left, the Mujahideen set up a new government.However, a civil war broke out between many of the different political and military groups of the country.The Taliban, religious scholars, made their move to power in 1994

Page 13 “After the Soviets left, the people who had been shooting at the Soviets decide they wanted to keep shooting at something, so they shot at each other.”

The Taliban Take Charge

The Taliban continued to get stronger and stronger and in 1996, captured Afghanistan’s capital city, Kabul.The Taliban had success in eliminating corruption, fixing the economy, and restoring peace.

Very Strict Government

The Taliban however brought this about through a very strict interpretation of the Sharia, Islamic Law.Public executions and punishments became regular events.Television, music, and the Internet were all banned and all men were ordered to grow beards.

Omar’s Rules

Women and the Taliban

Most shocking to the west was the Taliban’s treatment of women.

Women were not allowed to go to school.

Women were not allowed to work outside of the house.

Women were prohibited from leaving the house without a male relative as a chaperone. This is known as Purdah (the practice of keeping women secluded so that they can’t be see by men.

Women were not allowed to go into shops.

Page 44: “Mother hadn’t been out of the house since the Taliban had taken over Kabul a year and a half before.”

PunishmentWomen who disobeyed would be beaten or killed.A women caught wearing fingernail polish would have her fingers chopped off!The Taliban said that this was all to safeguard the honor of women.

Women and the Taliban

Poor Conditions

Although the Taliban managed to reunite most of Afghanistan, they could not completely end the civil war and the conditions worsened. All of the following things were very scarce and hard to come by. Food Water Jobs

Hiding Terrorists

The Taliban allowed terrorist organizations to run training camps within Afghanistan. They allowed Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda organization to be very close to the Taliban.Bin Laden supported a global jihad (holy war) and spoke out in favor of attacks against the United States and its allies.After September 11, 2001 the United States invaded the country and dismantled the Taliban.

The Taliban Defeated

Important pieces of

Social Studies information about The

Breadwinner by Deborah

Ellis

Women wear different kinds of robes. Here are a few that you will hear about in The Breadwinner.

Land Mines

Page 109: “‘Kabul has more land mines than flowers,’ her father used to say. ‘Land mines are as common as rocks and can blow you up without warning’…All she could remember was that some were disguised as toys- special mines to blow up children.”

A victim of a landmine

explosion in Afghanistan

Public Beatings and Punishments

Page 120-121: “Several men were brought in with their hands tied behind their backs. A heavy looking table was carried out by two soldiers… Several soldiers held them down, his hands stretched out across the table-top… All of a sudden one of the soldiers took out a sword, raised it above his head and brought it down on the man’s arm… ‘These men are thieves,’ the soldiers called out to the crowd. ‘See how we punish thieves? We cut off their hands!”

Arranged MarriagesPage 158: “‘My grandfather has started to look for a husband for me,’ Shauzia replied. ‘I overheard him talking to my grandmother, He said I should get married soon, that since I’m so young, I’ll fetch a good bride-price, and they will have lots of money to live on.’”

Taliban CrueltyPage 151: “The Taliban has captured Mazar,… They came to my house. They came right inside! They grabbed my father and my brother and took them outside. They shot them right in the street. My mother started hitting them and they shot her, too.. There were bodies all over the street.”

Afghanistan 20 th-21 st Century Time l ine AssignmentStudents will construct a timeline on the given 11x17 paper which highlights important

events in Afghanistan’s recent history (1950-Present) in chronological order on the timeline. Students must include at least 8 different events on their timeline from

Afghanistan’s history and must use fairly accurate spacing to show the period of time between their selected events. Students should neatly construct the timeline on the paper given, and must have at least two sentences of information for each of the 8 different events in Afghanistan’s history. Students must also draw and color a small picture for each of the 8 events. You must use TWO sources to explain where you

received your information, so please remember our rules on plagiarism!!! You must give me all of the information for your sources on the attached Source tracker. If you do not

turn in your source tracker, 20 points will be subtracted from your final score.

1950Present Day