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Taliban and Osama Bin Laden Facts & Worksheets

Taliban, Pashto Ṭālebān (“Students”) is an ultraconservative political and religious faction that emerged in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s.

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Taliban, Pashto Ṭālebān (“Students”) is an ultraconservative political and religious faction that emerged in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s following the withdrawal of Soviet troops, the collapse of Afghanistan’s communist regime, and the subsequent breakdown in civil order.

See the fact file below for more information on the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden or alternatively, you can download our 23-page Taliban and Osama Bin Laden worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

THE TALIBAN

  • The Taliban was an organized force for social order created in 1994 in Kandahār. It quickly subdued the local warlords who controlled the south of the country. From south-western Afghanistan, they extended their influence.
  • In September, 1995 they captured the province of Herat, bordering Iran. One year later, they captured Kabul and overthrew the regime of President Burhanuddin Rabbani, one of the founding fathers of the Afghan mujahideen.
  • By 1998, Taliban control over Afghanistan was almost 90%.
  • Initially welcomed by the Afghan citizens, their social order soon used violent punishments such as public executions of convicted murderers and adulterers, and amputations for those found guilty of theft.
  • Women were also excluded from public life such as employment and education.
  • They were also required to wear the all-covering burqa while men had to grow beards.
  • Soon, the Taliban banned television, music, and cinema, and disapproved of girls aged 10 and over going to school.
  • They were then accused of various human rights and cultural abuses such as the destruction of non-Islamic artistic relics despite public outrage.
  • The Taliban opened Afghanistan for Islamic militants from throughout the world, including an exiled Saudi Arabian, Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda.
  • Following the attacks on the World Trade Center and on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, they refused to extradite bin Laden to the United States.
  • In response to the terrorist attack, a US-led military coalition invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001.
  • By the first week of December the Taliban regime had collapsed. However, the Taliban head Mullah Mohammad Omar and other senior figures evaded capture.
  • They reportedly took refuge in the Pakistani city of Quetta, from where they guided the Taliban.
  • To continue their cause, the Taliban funded themselves through their opium trade.
  • Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar continued to direct the insurgency but in July 2015 the Afghan government discovered that he had died in 2013 in a Pakistani hospital.
  • Mullah Akhtar Mansour, his successor, was killed in a US air strike in Pakistan in May 2016 and was replaced by his deputy Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada.
  • Their attacks continued which prompted Afghanistan’s central government to seek reconciliation with the Taliban, thinking the US-installed regime was illegal.
  • The Taliban and the United States began meeting in 2018, focusing on the latter withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan.
  • On February 2020, The Taliban signed an agreement with the central government to prevent al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL; also called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria [ISIS]) from operating in Afghanistan.
  • Osama bin Laden was 17th of 52 siblings born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1957 or 1958.
  • His father, Mohammed bin Laden, was a Yemeni immigrant who owned the largest construction company in the Saudi kingdom.
  • He went to school in Jiddah, married young and joined the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, shaping his Islamic political and religious beliefs.
  • In the late 1970s, Osama became a follower of Abdullah Azzam. He believed that all Muslims should rise up in jihad, or holy war, to create a single Islamic state.
  • This idea appealed to bin Laden and he began to resent the growing Western influence on Middle Eastern life.
  • When Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Azzam and bin Laden joined the resistance by funding and winning moral support for the mujahideen (Afghan rebels).
  • In 1988, bin Laden created al Qaeda (“the base”) that would focus on symbolic acts of terrorism solely against the Western countries, continuously influencing his Islamic culture in the Middle East.
  • The Saudi government was threatened by his extremist belief, hence they took away his passport and turned down his offer to send “Afghan Arabs” to guard the border after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.
  • Disgruntled, he left the country and embraced violent jihad. Al Qaeda struck for the first time in 1991: a bomb exploded in a hotel in Aden, Yemen.

AL QAEDA’S TERRORISM

  • 1993 – al Qaeda trained and armed the Somali rebels who killed 18 American servicemen in Mogadishu.
  • 1993 – bombing of New York’s World Trade Center.
  • 1995 – attempted assassination of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarek.
  • 1996 – the bombing of a US National Guard training center in Riyadh; truck bomb that destroyed the Khobar Towers, an American military residence in Dharan.
  • 1998-bombs exploded simultaneously at the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, where 224 people were killed and 4,585 were injured.
  • 2000 – Bombing of USS Cole, an American naval destroyer docked off the coast of Yemen. 17 sailors were killed and 38 were injured.
  • September 11, 2001 – attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
  • He continued in hiding for the next ten years but America’s CIA endeavoured a manhunt and on May 2, 2011, he was shot and killed.
  • His son, Hamza bin Laden, who was a potential successor to the al Qaeda leader, was killed in a US counterterrorism operation in September 2019.

Taliban and Osama Bin Laden Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden across 23 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Taliban and Osama Bin Laden worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the Taliban, Pashto Ṭālebān (“Students”) which is an ultraconservative political and religious faction that emerged in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s following the withdrawal of Soviet troops, the collapse of Afghanistan’s communist regime, and the subsequent breakdown in civil order.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Acts of Terrorism
  • International Terrorists
  • Victims of Terrorism
  • Trails of Destruction
  • Most Wanted
  • International Response
  • From Terror to Joy
  • End of a Terrorist
  • The Final Shot
  • Heal the World

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the connection between Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan?

Not long after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, bin Laden began traveling to meet Afghan resistance leaders and raise money to help the fight against the invasion. This was when bin Laden started to support al-Qaeda, and they were supported by the Taliban.

What did Osama bin Laden fight for?

Bin Laden’s aim, according to his apparent objective, was for the United States to get drawn into a large-scale war in the Muslim world that would overthrow the existing global order and establish an Islamic empire. To achieve this, al-Qaeda equipped extremists and funded terrorist assaults.

What are the rules of the Taliban for girls and women?

Since taking control, the Taliban have prevented women and girls from expressing themselves, moving around freely, and getting an education – essentially violating their most basic rights. These acts also prevent them from having a good quality of life by restricting their access to healthcare, food, water, and employment opportunities.

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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