Taliban

/ˈtælɪˌbæn/

/ˈtɑlɪbɑn/

Other forms: Talibans

The Taliban is a brutal, fundamentalist religious group that held power over most of Afghanistan during the late 1990s.

The word Taliban comes from tālib, "student" in Arabic, as the group was started by Pakistani religious school students in the mid-1990s. The Taliban has been condemned around the world for the support it's given to terrorist groups and the brutality with which it's treated many people, particularly Muslim women. Over its brief existence, the Taliban has denied food aid to starving people, massacred Afghan citizens, and run human trafficking operations, among many other atrocities.

Definitions of Taliban

1. noun

   a fundamentalist Islamic militia; in 1995 the Taliban militia took over Afghanistan and in 1996 took Kabul and set up an Islamic government
   synonyms: Taleban

   type of:

   religious movement

   a movement intended to bring about religious reforms