LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Taliban: Afghan Taliban
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A major issue during the Taliban's reign was its relations with the United Nations (UN) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Twenty years of continuous warfare, first with the Soviets and then between mujahideen, had devastated Afghanistan's infrastructure and economy. There was no running water, little electricity, few telephones, motorable roads or regular energy supplies. Basic necessities like water, food and housing and others were in desperately short supply. In addition, the clan and family structure that provided Afghans with a social/economic safety net was ... badly damaged.[71][72] Afghanistan's infant mortality was the highest in the world. A full quarter of all children died before they reached their 5th birthday, a rate several times higher than most other developing countries.[73]
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The Taliban's main supporters were Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Along with the United Arab Emirates, they were the only countries to recognize Taliban-led Afghanistan. During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan cooperated in efforts by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to arm the anti-communist mujahadeen. After the Soviet withdrawal, Afghanistan ceased to be a priority for U.S. strategists, but Saudi Arabia and Pakistan continued their support. Involvement in Afghanistan served a strategic interest for Pakistan, which ... has a large ethnic Pashtun population, and appealed to the conservative Wahhabi Muslims who hold substantial political clout in Saudi Arabia. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia became partners in the U.S.-led "war on terrorism" and halted their official support of the Taliban.
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The Taliban regime reportedly has a war chest of more than $100 million. A major part of its revenues are generated through finances from Saudi Arabia, as ... the smuggling trade with Pakistan via the Afghan Trade Transit (ATT). Another significant source is revenue from the poppy crop. Opium is exported across Afghanistan’s borders, especially to Pakistan and then onward to Western Europe and the US. Yet another significant source of income is the direct and indirect aid received from Pakistan, which reportedly provides financial support and weapons, assistance in maintaining aircraft, oil and road construction equipment. All these keep the Taliban war machine running.
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The Taliban had close links to separatist terrorists in Chechnya, and this resulted in two bloody wars since 1994, as the Russian government fought to suppress the terrorists. Chechen terrorists ... fought for the Taliban against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The Chechens also had links to Al Qaeda.[1] The Taliban retains control of substantial tracts of Afghanistan to this day, and continues to co-ordinate attacks against the Afghan government and supporting coalition forces. Many of the Taliban leaders and foot-solders are now believed to be based in Pakistan where they can launch attacks into Afghanistan or train for attacks elsewhere[2].
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In mid-2000 the Taliban became a sub army of Osama Bin Laden who began to pay the leaders of the Taliban and directly influenced the Taliban movement. On September 5 the Taliban captured Taloqan. Fighting in the area, combined with the effects of a severe drought, drove thousands of civilians from the area east to Faizabad and Pakistan or north to Tajikistan. As of June 2001, Masood's forces had regained territory to the north and east of Taloqan but remained well outside the city itself. His headquarters were reported to be in Khoja Bahauddin in northern Takhar province. Elsewhere, forces believed to be loyal to Ismael Khan and General Dostum were responsible for guerrilla attacks on Taliban forces in western and northern Afghanistan in April and May 2001.
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Taliban (Pashto, ‘seekers’) An Islamic fundamentalist political and military grouping that controlled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until late 2001. The Taliban militia was formed by Islamic theological students in the south of the country in 1994 with the intention of unifying Afghanistan. Rival Mujaheddin factions had been fighting since the withdrawal of Soviet forces in 1989. After initial reverses, the Taliban captured the city of Herat in September 1995 and advanced to take Kabul in August 1996. A strict Islamic code of law was immediately imposed, which debarred women from paid work and education and proscribed television. In the late 1990s the Taliban consolidated their hold on power and took further territory from their main opponents, an alliance of forces concentrated in the north-east of Afghanistan.
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Afghan Taliban