The Taliban Enigma Person-Centred Politics & Extremism in Afghanistan

Abstract

If the process by which we arrive at today's institutions is relevant and constrains future choices, then not only does history matter but persistent poor performance and long-run divergent patterns of (socio-political and economic) development stem from a common source. The meteoric rise of the Taliban (1994-1995) as an extremist Muslim militia movement in post-Soviet Afghanistan remains an enigma to the Afghans as well as to outside observers. What is enigmatic is not so much where they come from, or what internal and external forces might be propping them up, or even the brand of Islam they are brandishing. Rather what remain puzzling are questions such as: What in the Afghan history and political culture provides space and a place for the rise of such an extremely harsh and violent militant movement at the dawn of the 21st century in this beleaguered nation? Is this an expected manifestation of recognizable historical patterns in the country? Or is it an aberration and a product of novel circumstances of post-jihad Afghanistan? If it is not a novelty, as will be argued here, then how can it be explained within the parameters of Afghanistan's social history and political culture?