Why the Taliban Were...and Are the Bad Guys in Afghanistan

The Taliban is the Islamist nationalist movement that ruled Afghanistan from 1994 to 2001 and gained diplomatic recognition from Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., and Pakistan. The United States bears some responsibility in the Taliban's rise. During the Soviet Union's invasion and occupation of the mid-1980's, the United States funded Islamic fundamentalist freedom fighters who following the Soviet withdrawal morphed into the Western world hating Taliban.

During its rule, the Taliban instituted amputation and stoning as legal forms of punishment, banned television, music, and sports, and gave safe haven to Osama bin Laden.

Following the the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban has reconstituted itself in the high mountain border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Osama Bin Laden is suspected of being hidden away in this region as well...provided that he isn't a moldering corpse buried in a collapsed cave in the Mountains of Tora Bora.