The Role and Place of the Taliban on the Global Map of Islam: Challenges and Threats

... correct understanding of the Taliban’s role and place in the many-faceted world of Islam. The Taliban and Salafi-jihadis The most accurate definition to characterize the various international terrorist organizations purportedly acting on behalf of Islam is that of “Salafi jihadism,” which was introduced in 2002 by the scholar Gilles Kepel to describe a “hybrid Islamist ideology” developed by volunteers from Arab and Muslim countries during the first Afghan War (1979–1992) [ 1 ]. Salafism came to be the spiritual,...