Emerging from Kandahar in 1994, the Taliban began as a group of religious students who had trained in Pakistan. They combined traditionalist religious views with a desire to take back the Pashtun heartland from criminal groups and petty warlords.

Capitalising on the frustration of a war-wearied population, they enjoyed immediate military success, grew to a considerable force in a remarkably short period and rapidly took control of the Pashtun south.

In 1996 Kabul fell to the Taliban and they were able to extend their control. Much of their success was gained by opposing groups aligning with them rather than risk defeat.

The Taliban, led by Mullah Mohamed Omar, enforced strict fundamental Islamic moral codes and practices, and Islamic Law (sharia) was widely accepted throughout Afghanistan.

Under the Taliban, sharia law was interpreted to ban a number of activities such as education for women, watching films and TV, listening to music, dancing, and beard trimming to name just a few.

In 1998 the Taliban extended their rule across more than 90 per cent of the country, waging a civil war against the Northern Alliance (backed by Russia, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Turkey) which controlled the remaining ten per cent in the north.

Following Al Qaeda's attacks in the US on 11 September 2001, the US accused the Taliban of assisting Al Qaeda and protecting its leader Osama Bin Laden.

A campaign to target the Taliban resulted in their dispersal along with their Al Qaeda allies, mainly to Pakistan. Then the Northern Alliance took Kabul and passed control of the new interim administration to Hamid Karzai following United Nations involvement.

Today the Taliban operates a number of sharia law courts in the country's southern provinces and collects taxes on harvests in farming areas - such as in Helmand province - where large amounts of opium poppy is cultivated.