Abstract

Rise of Taliban 2 Abstract Throughout the past three decades the United States has been extensively involved with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Though the U.S. is now in strong conflict with the Taliban, it had once supported this now devastating terrorist group. When the Taliban first began, its goal was to rid Afghanistan of the USSR military, which imposed Communist views on the Afghan people. The U.S. decided to help the Afghans in hope that after U.S. troops kicked out the Soviet invaders, the new Afghan government would allow the U.S. to construct oil pipelines throughout Afghanistan. The U.S. held possession over some of the oil-rich lands just north of Afghanistan, and choosing to build its oil pipelines southward through Afghanistan would help the U.S. avoid the USSR to the north and west, and Iran to the southwest. After the U.S. had cleared out the Soviet invaders and had established its oil pipelines, it reverted to a policy of neglect in Afghanistan. As long as oil was flowing through its pipelines in Afghanistan the U.S. was content. Unfortunately, the political vacuum left by the U.S. after kicking out the Soviets was being filled by the ever growing Taliban. By 1994, the Taliban had taken control over all of Afghanistan and had become an arbitrary power led by the dictator Mullah Muhammad Omar. This is when the U.S. finally decided to take a stand and stop the horrific acts committed by the Taliban. It had taken the U.S. seven years and the lives of thousands of U.S. troops, but by 2001 the U.S. thought that it had stopped the Taliban. Only a few months ago the U.S. discovered that it was sadly mistaken; the Taliban experienced a resurgence Afghanistan with none other than Muhammad Omar in the seat of power. Because of its initial support of the Taliban and its period of neglect, which allowed the Taliban to become so powerful, not even the U.S. can bring about the peace in Afghanistan that both Afghans and Americans had once hoped for.