The Taliban emerged from Afghanistan's civil war in the 1990s, ruled most of the country from 1996 to 2001, fought a long insurgency, and returned to power in August 2021. Understanding that sequence requires keeping the movement's leaders, its foreign relationships and the experiences of Afghan civilians in view together.
From civil war to the first emirate
The Soviet withdrawal in 1989 was followed by the collapse of Afghanistan's Soviet-backed government in 1992 and fighting among mujahideen factions. The Taliban formed in this fractured political landscape. Many early members were rural Pashtun clerics, religious students or former fighters; some had studied in seminaries in Pakistan. The name Taliban refers to students.
Under Mullah Mohammad Omar, the movement took Kandahar in 1994 and Kabul in September 1996. Its promise of order appealed to people exhausted by predatory commanders and war. Its expansion also depended on military campaigns, alliances and support from Pakistan. The movement's social origins help explain its development; Afghanistan's Pashtun population, like its other communities, contained a wide range of political views.
The first Taliban government enforced its interpretation of Islam through coercive rules and punishments. Restrictions severely limited women's education, employment and public presence. The Taliban controlled much of Afghanistan while opposing forces retained territory, particularly in the north. Its protection of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda became central to its international isolation. These origins and the 1996–2001 period are covered in the Congressional Research Service's 2021 historical account.
A chronology of changing power
| Period | What changed | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1989–1992 | Soviet forces withdrew; the Soviet-backed Afghan government later fell. | The subsequent struggle among Afghan factions shaped the environment in which the Taliban emerged. |
| 1994–1996 | The Taliban captured Kandahar, then Kabul. | An armed movement became a government claiming authority over Afghanistan. |
| 1996–2001 | The first Taliban emirate ruled most of the country. | Domestic repression, continuing war and the al-Qaeda relationship shaped its rule. |
| 2001 | After al-Qaeda's September 11 attacks, a U.S.-led campaign and Afghan anti-Taliban forces overthrew the government. | The Taliban lost national power and subsequently regrouped. |
| 2000s–2010s | An Afghan republic developed with international support while the Taliban waged an insurgency. | Institution-building and expanded opportunities coexisted with corruption, violence and uneven state authority. |
| February 29, 2020 | The United States and Taliban signed the Doha agreement. | Foreign withdrawal and Taliban counterterrorism commitments formed a bilateral bargain; an Afghan political settlement remained unresolved. |
| August 15, 2021 | Taliban fighters entered Kabul as President Ashraf Ghani fled. | The republic collapsed and the Taliban regained national power during the international withdrawal. |
Chronology: CRS's 2021 background report and March 10, 2026 briefing (PDF). Read forecasts in older reports as assessments made at their publication date.
Keep the organizations distinct
The Afghan Taliban is the movement that established the Islamic Emirate and fought to recover power after 2001. Al-Qaeda is a separate transnational terrorist organization with a longstanding Taliban relationship; al-Qaeda carried out the September 11 attacks. Islamic State Khorasan Province, or IS-K, is an Islamic State affiliate and Taliban adversary. Shared religious vocabulary can conceal important differences in organization, aims and relationships.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, operates principally against the Pakistani state and is a separate organization with ties to the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan's historical support for the Afghan movement and its later disputes with Taliban authorities belong to different phases of the relationship. The 2026 CRS briefing explains these distinctions and the deterioration in relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
How the insurgency became a government again
The Taliban survived the loss of Kabul by rebuilding networks and sustaining an insurgency against Afghan and international forces. The republic depended heavily on foreign military and financial support. Divisions among political elites, corruption and weaknesses in security institutions eroded its authority, even as education, media and other areas of public life expanded.
The 2020 Doha agreement committed the United States to withdrawal in exchange for Taliban commitments concerning threats from Afghan territory. The Afghan government was outside that bilateral agreement. Negotiations among Afghans failed to deliver a durable political settlement before withdrawal. In 2021, Taliban advances combined battlefield victories with local surrenders and negotiated transfers; the collapse accelerated as confidence in the republic disintegrated. The CRS account of the takeover provides a starting point for examining the interacting political and military causes.
Current context: reviewed October 5, 2026
The Taliban remains Afghanistan's de facto governing authority. Its return to power should be assessed through several separate questions: control of institutions, diplomatic relations, security, livelihoods and people's rights. The March 2026 CRS assessment describes entrenched Taliban control, severe humanitarian needs and tensions with neighboring Pakistan.
UN Women's August 2026 assessment documents continuing exclusion of girls from secondary education and women from universities, extensive restrictions on work and movement, and obstacles to services. It also describes women-led organizations delivering healthcare, counseling and livelihood support under growing funding pressure. These experiences are essential evidence about governance and everyday life. This section is a dated overview; the linked reports identify their own reporting periods.
Read a history with people and sources in view
- Locate the claim in time. A description of territorial control in 2000, an insurgent network in 2010 and an administration after 2021 answer different questions.
- Name the actor and the source. Separate a government announcement, an eyewitness account, a UN finding and a historian's interpretation. Record the date and geographic scope.
- Compare levels of experience. National political changes affected cities, rural districts, ethnic and religious communities, women and men in different ways. Seek testimony with enough context to understand whose experience it describes.
- Keep a short evidence note. Write down the claim, its source, the period covered and one unresolved question. For casualty figures, check who is counted and how the investigation established the total.
Used together, political histories and accounts of civilian life show both how rulers obtained power and what their rule meant to the people living under it.
Explore more documents, places and interpretations in Yenra History.