# Taliban: Rule in Afghanistan and War with Pakistan (2026) > The Taliban in 2026: Sharia rule in Afghanistan, women's rights, the TTP, Islamic State Khorasan and Pakistan, the country hit hardest by terrorism. - URL: https://fightingislamists.com/taliban-pakistan.html - Updated: 29 October 2026 - Publisher: The Analyst, Fighting Islamists (https://fightingislamists.com/) - Cite as: The Analyst, "Taliban: Rule in Afghanistan and War with Pakistan (2026)", Fighting Islamists, updated 29 October 2026. https://fightingislamists.com/taliban-pakistan.html **The short answer.** The Taliban are an Afghan Islamist movement that has ruled Afghanistan since 15 August 2021 and enforces its own reading of Sharia as state law, including bans on girls' secondary school and women's university study.[^cfr][^unw] A separate group, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), shares its ideology and is fighting the Pakistani state. The Global Terrorism Index 2026 ranked Pakistan the country most affected by terrorism, and Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban have been in open conflict since February 2026.[^gti][^cfr] ### Key facts - On 15 August 2021 Taliban fighters entered Kabul and the Afghan government collapsed. The movement had ruled before, from 1996 until the US-led invasion of 2001.[^cfr] - The UN Monitoring Team says the supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, rules from Kandahar and has proclaimed Sharia-based government. Public executions have resumed. Only Russia had formally recognised the government (December 2025).[^un796] - On 12 August 2026 UN Women reported more than 100 decrees targeting women and girls in five years.[^unw] - Taliban courts flogged at least 1,110 people in 2025, including 170 women, according to Taliban Supreme Court figures cited by UN experts in March 2026.[^kn] - The Global Terrorism Index 2026 recorded 1,139 terrorism deaths in Pakistan in 2025, the most since 2013, and ranked Pakistan first in the world for the first time.[^gti] - The TTP carried out 595 attacks and caused 637 deaths in Pakistan in 2025, the most since 2011. The UN puts it at about 6,000 fighters, based mostly in Afghanistan.[^gti][^un796] - Pakistan's defence minister declared "open war" with Afghanistan on 27 February 2026. The Council on Foreign Relations, updated 7 October 2026, reports no formal agreement to end the fighting.[^ap][^cfr] - On 5 October 2026 the eighth Moscow Format consultations on Afghanistan ended without a joint statement. Russia's envoy, Zamir Kabulov, said the Taliban objected to the draft's repeated linking of Afghanistan with terrorism, and border clashes in Paktia and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa followed.[^lwj] - On 17 October 2026 Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman said talks cannot be unconditional and that Pakistan's only demand is a "verifiable mechanism to ensure complete cessation of terrorist activities emanating from Afghan soil". Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi says the tensions can be resolved by diplomacy and accuses Islamabad of relying on force.[^dawn][^lwj] ## Who are the Taliban? The Taliban are an Islamist movement that rose from the Afghan civil war of the 1990s, took Kabul in 1996 and controlled nearly 90 per cent of Afghanistan by 2001.[^cfr] They governed as a centralised religious autocracy, and al-Qaeda used Afghanistan as a base. US-led forces ousted them after they refused to hand over Osama bin Laden. The leaders moved to southern Afghanistan and Pakistan and fought an insurgency for two decades. In the Doha Agreement of February 2020 they promised to stop terrorist groups using their territory, and they returned to power in August 2021.[^cfr] Today Akhundzada holds the title Amir al-Mu'minin, leader of the faithful.[^un796] Three groups are often confused. | Group | What it is | Aim | Link to the Afghan Taliban | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Afghan Taliban | Rulers of Afghanistan since 2021 | An Islamic emirate under its reading of Sharia | It is the government[^un796] | | Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) | Pakistani militant group, founded 2007 | Overthrow the Pakistani state and set up an emirate | Ideological ally; the UN says the Taliban harbour its leaders[^gti][^un796] | | Islamic State Khorasan (ISKP) | Regional branch of Islamic State, from 2015 | A caliphate across the Khorasan region | Rival; it calls the Taliban insufficiently hard-line[^cfr] | ## How do the Taliban rule Afghanistan? The Taliban rule through a centralised clerical system under one man. The UN Monitoring Team says Akhundzada has consolidated power in Kandahar, appointed hand-picked loyalists and ordered councils of ulama (religious scholars) in every province.[^un796] His writ is not applied evenly, and non-Pashtuns are generally treated worse than Pashtuns.[^un796] ### Do the Taliban apply Sharia law? The Taliban say they do, and they treat Sharia as the source of state law. Their Supreme Court has rejected international criticism of public executions and told foreign bodies not to interfere in the implementation of Sharia.[^un796] In August 2024 they issued a 35-article law on promoting virtue and preventing vice. It requires women to cover their whole bodies, including the face, and treats a woman's voice as *awrah*, something to be concealed.[^jurist] Punishments are public and rising. Supreme Court figures show at least 1,110 people were flogged in 2025, nearly double the 2024 total, and the report says at least 12 men have been executed since 2021. The Taliban say these punishments maintain justice and social order.[^kn] Not every Taliban figure agrees that the girls' school ban is required by Sharia. Deputy foreign minister Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai was dismissed in May 2024 after calling it contrary to Sharia, and later fled abroad under an arrest warrant. A scholar, Abdul Sami Ghaznawi, was jailed for 45 days in 2025 by a military court.[^un796] For how Sharia works as state law elsewhere, see [Sharia around the world](https://fightingislamists.com/sharia.html#world) and [Sharia as state law today](https://fightingislamists.com/research.html#sharia-today). ## What are the Taliban's restrictions on women's rights? The Taliban have removed women and girls from most public life. UN agencies report the following. | Area | What the UN reports | | --- | --- | | Schools | Girls are barred from secondary school. UNESCO said on 11 August 2026 that about 2.4 million girls are shut out, 200,000 more than a year earlier, and the number could approach four million by 2030.[^unesco] UNICEF's earlier count was about 2.2 million in March 2025.[^unicef] | | Universities | Women are banned from attending university.[^unw] | | Work | 7 per cent of women are employed, against 84 per cent of men.[^unw] | | Movement | Nearly three-quarters of women feel unsafe leaving home without a male guardian (*mahram*).[^unw] | | Marriage law | Decree no. 12 (2026) ends legal equality and gives husbands authority over wives. Decree no. 18 (2026) makes it harder for women to leave a marriage and implicitly permits child marriage.[^unw] | On 8 July 2025 the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Akhundzada and the chief justice, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, for the crime against humanity of gender persecution.[^icc] The girls' ban is one of the main sources of tension inside the movement, because most of the country follows less conservative religious traditions, the UN says.[^un796] Russia is the only state to recognise the government formally, although 28 foreign missions and international bodies operate in Kabul.[^un796] ## What is the TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan)? The TTP, or Pakistani Taliban, is a Deobandi Islamist militant group, founded in 2007 in Pakistan's tribal areas, that wants to overthrow the Pakistani government.[^gti] CFR says it would replace the state with an emirate under its own reading of Sharia.[^cfr] In 2025 the TTP carried out 595 attacks, up 24 per cent from 481. Its 637 deaths were the most since 2011 and made up 56 per cent of all terrorism deaths in Pakistan. It was the fourth year running of rising attacks.[^gti] The UN Monitoring Team says about 6,000 TTP fighters are in Khost, Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktika and Paktiya provinces. It says the Taliban continue to harbour TTP leaders and facilitate its operations, and that the leader, Noor Wali Mehsud, is believed to spend time in Kabul.[^un796] The Taliban deny sheltering the group.[^cfr] The UN says opinion inside the Taliban is split: some senior figures see the TTP as a liability, others support it, and the Taliban are unlikely to act against it.[^un796] CFR adds that the Taliban fear pressure could push hardliners towards ISKP.[^cfr] ## Why is Pakistan the country most affected by terrorism? Terrorism in Pakistan has surged since the Taliban's return, driven by the TTP and Baloch separatists, the Index says. Pakistan faced six times as many incidents in 2025 as in 2020.[^gti] | Measure, 2025 | Pakistan | | --- | --- | | Global Terrorism Index rank and score | 1st, 8.574 | | Terrorism deaths | 1,139, up nearly 6 per cent; sixth rise in a row | | Worst-hit provinces | Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: 74 per cent of attacks, 67 per cent of deaths | Source: Global Terrorism Index 2026.[^gti] Not all of it is Islamist. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) is an ethnonationalist separatist group. It carried out Pakistan's largest attack of 2025 by seizing the Jaffar Express train with 442 hostages. Reports say 21 hostages, four soldiers and 33 attackers died.[^gti] On 18 September 2026 a suicide attack in north-western Pakistan killed 31 people and injured more than 100. A group called the Ittehad ul Mujahideen Pakistan alliance claimed it; that claim is the group's own.[^lwj] Other counts are wider. The Islamabad think tank PICSS counted 606 deaths in July 2026 alone, including 401 militants, 112 security personnel (the most in a month since January 2023) and 74 civilians.[^picss] These counts use different rules and should not be compared with the Index. On 6 February 2026 a suicide bomber struck a Shia mosque on the edge of Islamabad. At least 31 people were killed and more than 170 hurt. Islamic State claimed it. Pakistan's defence minister blamed India without giving evidence, and India rejected the charge.[^reuters] ## What is the war between Pakistan and the Taliban government? Pakistan accuses the Taliban government of sheltering the TTP, and the two states have traded air strikes and border fire since October 2025. The Taliban deny the charge.[^cfr] | Date | Event | | --- | --- | | 7 October 2025 | A TTP ambush in Kurram kills 11 Pakistani soldiers. Pakistani air strikes in Afghanistan are reported on 9 and 10 October.[^un796] | | October 2025 | Qatar and Turkey broker a temporary ceasefire. Saudi-mediated talks collapse by year's end.[^cfr] | | 27 February 2026 | Pakistan strikes Kabul and other provinces after an Afghan attack. Defence minister Khawaja Asif says "Now it is open war between us".[^ap] | | 16 March 2026 | A Pakistani strike hits a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul. The UN mission confirms at least 269 civilian deaths. Pakistan said it hit military sites.[^cfr] | | 24 September to 1 October 2026 | Pakistan strikes Kandahar, Paktika, Khost, Helmand and Kunar. The UN mission reports at least ten civilians killed on 1 October, most of them children.[^cfr] | | 5 October 2026 | The eighth Moscow Format consultations, with ten regional states attending, end without a joint statement. Russia says the Taliban objected to wording that linked Afghanistan with terrorism.[^lwj] | | 10 October 2026 | Border clashes in Paktia, Afghanistan, and Kurram, Pakistan. Radio Pakistan, citing the army, says its forces killed 12 TTP and Afghan Taliban fighters and lost one soldier. A Taliban corps says Pakistani forces fired first and it had no casualties in one Paktia district. Neither account is independently confirmed.[^lwj] | | 11 October 2026 | President Asif Ali Zardari declares a state of emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and suspends its provincial government, led by Imran Khan's party, citing a deteriorating security situation.[^lwj] | | 25 October 2026 | Pakistan's parliamentary affairs minister, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, says Pakistan reserves the right to act if Afghan territory is used against it. He says evidence of infiltration was given to the Taliban at talks in Istanbul and Doha, and that infiltration has not stopped.[^afi] | Each side's casualty claims differ widely. In February 2026 Pakistan's army said it killed at least 274 Afghan forces and affiliated militants and lost 12 soldiers. The Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, called those figures false and said 55 Pakistani soldiers died.[^ap] China has hosted talks in Urumqi, but CFR says they have produced no formal agreement. Pakistan also alleges that India backs the TTP and the BLA. India and analysts reject this.[^cfr] The Taliban and Pakistan blame each other for the lack of progress. As of 26 October 2026 this guide found no report of a new ceasefire or scheduled talks, and no mention of a Russian mediation plan that Pakistan's Foreign Office regards as formal.[^dawn] The UN rapporteur on Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, has called for an independent investigation of Pakistani attacks that may amount to war crimes.[^lwj] ## What is Islamic State Khorasan (ISKP) in Afghanistan? Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) is the Islamic State's branch in Afghanistan, formed in 2015 from defectors from the TTP, al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It wants a caliphate across the historic Khorasan region.[^cfr] The UN estimates about 2,000 ISKP fighters. The leadership is mostly Afghan Pashtun, and much of the rank and file is from Central Asia. The Taliban have suppressed ISKP but not eliminated it, the UN says. It works mostly in small cells in the north and east and favours attacks on Shia communities, Taliban officials and foreigners.[^un796] ISKP attacks the Taliban from the harder side. Its media call Taliban policy on women "un-Islamic" and Taliban diplomacy "talking to infidels", the UN reports.[^un796] It killed the Taliban refugees minister, Khalil Haqqani, in a suicide bombing on 11 December 2024.[^un796] Its Kabul airport bombing on 26 August 2021 killed 13 US service members and about 170 Afghans.[^cfr] The UN says ISKP's external operations network, based in Nimroz province, reportedly planned the 2024 attacks in Kerman, Iran, and at Crocus City Hall near Moscow. The Taliban refused to help dismantle it.[^un796] Europol's 2026 report says ISKP remains resilient and a potential threat beyond the region.[^europol] See [terrorist attacks in Europe](https://fightingislamists.com/terrorist-attacks-europe.html). ## What cuts the other way? - **The Taliban have delivered some results.** The Amir's poppy ban has held for three years, and 2025 cultivation was more than 95 per cent below the 2022 peak, the UN says.[^un796] UNODC measured 10,200 hectares in 2025, down 20 per cent.[^unodc] The UN also credits Taliban operations with suppressing ISKP.[^un796] - **Afghans carry the cost.** More than 4.5 million Afghans have been forcibly returned since October 2023. Border closures with Pakistan cost the Afghan economy about US$1 million a day.[^un796] - **Muslims are the main victims of the TTP and ISKP.** TTP gunmen killed about 150 people, most of them children, at a school in Peshawar in December 2014.[^brit] ISKP attacks Shia worshippers.[^un796][^reuters] - **Pakistan helped create the problem.** CFR says elements of Pakistan's intelligence service kept covert ties to the Taliban after 2001, giving training and support.[^cfr] - **There is dissent inside the movement.** Interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who leads the Haqqani Network, criticised current policy in December 2024 and is viewed as backing a more moderate path. He later reaffirmed loyalty to the Amir.[^un796] ## Questions people ask ### Are the Taliban and the TTP the same group? No. The Afghan Taliban rule Afghanistan. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is a separate Pakistani militant group, formed in 2007, that fights the Pakistani state. They share an ideology. The UN says the Afghan Taliban harbour TTP leaders, which the Taliban deny. The Islamic State's Khorasan branch is a third group and an enemy of the Taliban. ### Do the Taliban apply Sharia law? The Taliban say they do. They have declared Sharia-based government, enforce a 2024 virtue and vice law, and use public flogging and executions. Their rule rests on one strict reading of Islamic law. Some Taliban figures have said the ban on girls' education is not required by Sharia. See the guide to Sharia for the wider picture. ### Do the Taliban allow girls to go to school? Not beyond primary school. Girls have been barred from secondary school since March 2022, and women are banned from university. UNESCO said in August 2026 that about 2.4 million girls are shut out of secondary school, 200,000 more than a year before. The Taliban call the policy an internal matter. UN agencies say the ban costs Afghanistan teachers, health workers and income. ### Why is Pakistan fighting Afghanistan? Pakistan says the Taliban government shelters the TTP, which attacks Pakistani soldiers and civilians from Afghan bases. The Taliban deny it. Clashes began in October 2025 and widened in February 2026, when Pakistan declared "open war". Mediators have won only short truces. The Moscow Format talks of 5 October 2026 ended without a joint statement, and Pakistan says new talks must come with a verifiable mechanism to stop attacks from Afghan soil. This guide found no formal settlement by 26 October 2026. ### Does any country recognise the Taliban government? Only Russia has formally done so, according to the UN Monitoring Team in December 2025. Other states, including Afghanistan's neighbours, deal with the Taliban in practice, and the UN says 28 foreign missions and organisations are present in Kabul. This guide found no report of a second formal recognition by early October 2026. ## Related guides - [Islamist terrorism worldwide](https://fightingislamists.com/terrorism.html): the global picture and all guides. - [Global Terrorism Index 2026](https://fightingislamists.com/global-terrorism-index.html): the ranking behind many figures here. - [Sharia law](https://fightingislamists.com/sharia.html): what it is and how states apply it. - [Islamic State](https://fightingislamists.com/islamic-state.html): the parent group of ISKP. - [Al-Qaeda](https://fightingislamists.com/al-qaeda.html): the network the UN says the Taliban still host. - [Terrorism in Africa](https://fightingislamists.com/jihadism-africa.html): the other great centre of jihadist violence. - [Islamist terrorist groups](https://fightingislamists.com/terrorist-groups.html): the main groups and which governments ban them. - [Salafism and Wahhabism](https://fightingislamists.com/salafism-wahhabism.html): how they relate to jihadism. - [How radicalisation works](https://fightingislamists.com/radicalisation.html): the steps, online and offline. - [Countering extremism](https://fightingislamists.com/counter-extremism.html): what works. [^cfr]: Council on Foreign Relations, "Conflict Between Afghanistan and Pakistan" (Global Conflict Tracker), updated 7 October 2026. [^un796]: UN Security Council, "Sixteenth report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team (S/2025/796)", 8 December 2025. [^unw]: UN Women, "Five years after the Taliban takeover, the normalization of the exclusion of women and girls in Afghanistan", 12 August 2026. [^kn]: KabulNow, "UN experts condemn Taliban's escalating public floggings as 1,100 people punished in 2025", 5 March 2026. [^icc]: KabulNow, "ICC issues arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over gender-based persecution in Afghanistan", 8 July 2025. [^gti]: Institute for Economics & Peace, "Global Terrorism Index 2026", March 2026. [^jurist]: JURIST, "UN rights chief calls for immediate repeal of Taliban virtue and vice law in Afghanistan", 28 August 2024. [^unesco]: Al Jazeera, "UNESCO says 2.4 million Afghan girls denied access to further education", 11 August 2026. [^unicef]: UNICEF Afghanistan, "New school year starts in Afghanistan with almost 400,000 more girls deprived of their right to education", March 2025. [^picss]: PICSS, "Militant attacks, security operations make July deadliest month of 2026", 1 August 2026. [^reuters]: Reuters via TimesLIVE, "Thousands in Islamabad mourn 31 killed in suicide bombing of Shiite mosque", 7 February 2026. [^ap]: Associated Press via Michigan Public, "Pakistan's defense minister says that there is now 'open war' with Afghanistan after latest strikes", 27 February 2026. [^unodc]: Al-Monitor (Reuters), "Opium farming in Afghanistan shrank by a fifth in 2025, UN survey finds", 6 November 2025. [^europol]: Europol, "European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2026 (TE-SAT)", July 2026. [^lwj]: FDD's Long War Journal, "Taliban-Pakistan border clashes continue after Moscow talks end without agreement", 12 October 2026. [^dawn]: Dawn, "Pakistan rules out unconditional talks with Afghanistan", 17 October 2026. [^afi]: Afghanistan International, "Pakistan Reserves Right to Act Against Threats from Afghanistan, Says Minister Chaudhry", 26 October 2026. [^brit]: Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Peshawar school massacre", attack of 16 December 2014.