by Beauregard Fox

Created on: February 17, 2010

The Taliban (literally "students") is a political organization made up of fundamentalist Sunni Muslims.  It arose in the aftermath of the Soviet War in Afghanistan.

Drawing heavy support from the ISI, Pakistan's intelligence agency, the Taliban sought to quell the violence in the region as various warlords vied for power and privilege in what was largely a lawless region following the Soviet withdrawal.  It initially had intense public support, which somewhat waned as they gained power and imposed strict Sharia law upon the people of Afghanistan.  Their name comes from the fact that they consider themselves to be "students" of Islam, and seek to impose Islamic law on their people.

Al-Qaida, by contrast, is not a political movement.  It is a radical, fundamentalist Islamic organization, an organization that was, and continues to be, wildly unpopular in the Muslim world, despite the number of splinter organizations popping up using the name.  It is more akin to a cult than a serious political movement.

The teachings of al-Qaida go far beyond the strict orthodoxy of the Taliban.  According to al-Qaida, there is an on-going war occurring, a holy war, between Christians and Muslims, and that the Christians, represented in US power and in US-Israeli relations, are seeking to destroy Islam.  Al-Qaida's teachings further distort the message of the Koran by justifying suicide attacks in the name of jihad (holy war), to kill as many of the infidels (in this case, Jews and Christians) as possible.

The Taliban and al-Qaida did, for some time, have an alliance of sorts.  The Taliban offered al-Qaida the use of their lands for training bases in return for helping them secure the region.  In fact, the day before the September 11th terrorist attacks, an al-Qaida suicide bomber killed the leader of the largest mujahedeen faction vying for power in Afghanistan. 

This does not mean that the two organizations are the very similar.  While they share a fundamentalist view of Islam, the actions they take are very different.  The Taliban, while repressive, was largely a political, paramilitary movement, though in more recent years it has ramped up its violence as part of an insurgency against what it views as an illegitimate government supported by international occupiers.  It is a political movement not unlike that of fascism in Europe in the early 20th century, though without any sort of international scope.

Al-Qaida is little more than a cult and criminal organization, steeped in an ideology of hatred and death supported by distorting the teachings of Islam, seeking little more than the murder of innocents in a perceived holy war against Islam.  It is on par with organizations like the drug cartels, only their motive is a religious doctrine rather than profit.

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