hters or Mujahedin,"(www.afghan-web.com) they proved effective as bodyguards, by driving off other "Mujahedin" groups who attacked and looted the convoy. With newfound economic and military success and numerous supporters the Taliban took control over Kandahar in the spring of 1996, beginning a remarkable advance, which led to the capture of the capital, Kabul, in late September 1996. The fleeing government, a more moderate party dominated by ethnic Tajiks, a northern minority, fled to the north where they became later known as the Northern Alliance.
             After Kabul fell, the Taliban controlled 90% of Afghanistan. The Taliban regime had no effective opposition to prevent them from enforcing their views of right and wrong upon the citizens of Afghanistan. This brought about or continued the hardship and destitution in the country. The Taliban's strict religious laws significantly impacted society and relegated women to a status of little or no importance. The women of Afghanistan were forced to live "hellish lives under the rule of the Taliban. They treat women worse than they treat animals. In fact, even as Taliban declare the keeping of caged birds and animals is illegal, they imprison Afghan women within the four walls of their own houses."(www.geocities.com/Wellesley) Women had no importance in Taliban society, unless they were occupied producing children, satisfying male sexual needs or attending to the drudgery of housework. Some of the numerous laws that the Taliban enforce upon women were: they could not leave the house unless accompanied by a male relative, they could not work, they must wear burqa (which covers them head to toe), they could not talk to males outside their families, and they could not attend school. Women had no rights under the rule of the Taliban, and when they broke a law they were severely beaten, or publicly executed. An Afghan woman interviewed by a reporter after the rule of ...