Fundamentalist Islamic militant group that emerged in Afghanistan in the early 1990s, following the end of the Soviet-Afghan War. Taleban is Pashto for ‘students’ — in this case the small group of Islamic students and scholars that first comprised the organisation, founded by the cleric Mohammad Omar and Abdul Ghani Baradar. From 1996 to 2001 the Taliban were the de facto rulers of the country, imposing an extremist version of Sharia law in the country, severely curtailing women’s rights; enforcing extreme austerity measures; and orchestrating a large number of human rights violations. In 2021, they returned to power following the evacuation of US troops from the country. They also refer to their regime officially as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan; the Taliban government is, however, not considered legitimate by other countries.