Why did the Taliban first attack the US? Are the mujahideen and the Taliban the same thing?

Question

Why did the Taliban first attack the US? Are the mujahideen and the Taliban the same thing?

Answer 1

Taliban (Arabic for students) is a multinational extremist faction in Sunni Islam (found in Pakistan & Afghanistan); the mujahideen are those "freedom fighters"/ jihadists who were fighting over the decades to depose Communists or the Russian army or nowadays the U.S. backed Karzai government - - they don't really have the same kinds of interests but it is interesting that first Bush and Reagan Administrations did support the Mujahideen against the Soviet Army and the Bush-Cheney crowd was sending money to the Taliban during Spring 2001 to help them in thwarting the large poppy field-growing enterprises.  I'm glad you asked such a historically intertwined question ! ! !