MeterAfter the occupation of Kabul a week ago, Afghanistan’s most powerful political and military forces regained power nearly 20 years later: TalibanThe Islamic movement first benefited from the weaknesses of its opponents, who were divided and discredited among many. It remains to be seen whether they can better manage Afghanistan — and whether they have learned anything from the first national rule from 1996 to 2001. Many people worry about the worst-case scenario, especially for women, when the Taliban say they want to reintroduce the “Islamic system” and Sharia law.
Of course, their detailed meaning is open; just as the Taliban as a whole is difficult to determine. As some experts believe, are you a representative of Islamism in the 20th century? Or are they more willing to represent the repeated assaults on urban centers by rural groups united by powerful tribes, as described by scholar Ibn Khaldun around 1400? Closer to reality than these arguments is that the Taliban represents a very unique and peculiar mixture, which may only lead to the special situation in Afghanistan. The mixture of traditional and reformist Islam, Sufism, and tribal thinking emerged in an age of unequal modernization and was affected by years of war and escape.
