Taliban

Research papers on the Taliban are written to focus on any aspect of this group. The history of the Taliban, the beliefs of Taliban members or the military operations of the Taliban are all excellent topics for political science research on the Taliban.

The Taliban, which is a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist movement, is also known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Mullah Mohammed Omar was the leader of the movement until his death in 2013. The Taliban holds very conservative Islamic views. These conservative values permeate their social codes. Examples include the following:

• The Taliban believes in the exclusion of women
• The Taliban promotes the destruction of non-Islamic art
• The Taliban is also known for extremist harsh punishments to criminals

The Taliban came out of the Afghan Civil War and was originally made up of only 50 student fighters who were trained in Pakistan. The Inter-Services Intelligence group in Pakistan originally started the Taliban. At the beginning, the group only numbered a few hundred soldiers. They did not have many supplies in way of munitions and equipment. In 1996, The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was established. Pakistan and ISI continue to give the Taliban money and military support. The Taliban movement continued to grow.

In 2000, the UN Security Council wanted to send a message to Pakistan and Russia who had been supplying the Taliban with resources. They imposed an arms embargo in hopes that it would discourage countries in sending support to the Taliban forces. The embargos did not prevent Pakistan from sending resources. After the terror attacks on 9/11 Pakistan reported that they had stopped supporting the Taliban but this was later found to be a false claim.

After the 9/11 terror attacks, the Taliban allowed Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to hide from the United States. They refused to turn Bin Laden over to the United States. This ultimately led to a military action, which removed the Taliban from power in Afghanistan.

Sample Topic for a Research Paper on the Taliban

To fully understand terrorism, the United States Department of Homeland Security must somehow learn the structure of what the United States is fighting against in an attempt to deter terrorism rather than merely beat it with brute American force. This is difficult, however; whereas U.S. military forces have a clear chain of command, terrorist organizations do not have such chains of command. In some cases, terrorists use both a chain of command hierarchy and a networked structure, mixing the two. In short, there is no definite path that America can follow that will lead to a clear victory in the war on terrorism, so the best the DHS can do is to educate officials such as those in Palm Coast about the known terrorist threats that the United States—and thus Palm Coast— faces.

For a possible research paper topic on the Taliban, you will prepare an report about Taliban Islamist terrorist forces and Shia Islamist terrorist forces. In the report, do the following:

1. Outline the differences Taliban and Shia terrorist forces.
   
2. •Discuss the relationship between the Taliban and Shia and Al-Qaeda.
   
3. Are all Taliban Al-Qaeda?
   
4. Are all Shi'ites Al-Qaeda?
   

This report should not include any moral judgments or opinions; rather, it should simply outline the differences between the Taliban and Shi'ites and note any known connection to Al-Qaeda forces.