powerful ethnic group, the Pashtun (or Pakhtun in northern Pakhtu dialects), is composed of many peopl... t, southward from Nuristan, across the south, and northward along the Iranian border almost to Herat. ... organising principle for society and government, not tribes. Across the country, little-known Muslim
ttle.
The Taliban emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan following the withdrawal of Soviet... nd violence in the country has returned to levels not seen since 2001.
Their retreat earlier this de
