The Ideological Trajectory within the Taliban Movement in Afghanistan

Abstract

Abstract The ideological transition within the Taliban movement has witnessed several trajectories. Starting from a socio- cultural movement for bringing about law and order in the society as the ruler of Kabul in the mid-1990s; the movement experienced various phases where its norms and practices appeared alien to the socio-cultural fabric of the majority part of the modern Afghan state. At the present juncture, the movement’s aim is to become the ruler of Kabul again but with a new outlook. The movement and its leadership have entered an epoch different from the old Taliban to neo-Taliban and presents themselves as chief propagators of peace within the organisation that only reflects the Taliban’s desperate attempt to save the movement and present it as an alternative to the US backed Afghan government.