individuals who later joined the Soviet–Afghan War as Mujahideen. The outcome of this training was the emergence of several organizations, including the Taliban, which marked the onset of the third wave of Deobandi jihadism. Activities Afghanistan The Soviet–Afghan War ended in 1989, when the last Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan. The war had lasted for over nine years and had resulted in the deaths of thousands of Afghans and Soviet soldiers. After the Soviet withdrawal, the Mujahideen, a loose coalition of Afghan rebel groups, took control of much of the country. However, the Mujahideen were not able to establish a stable government, and Afghanistan descended into a period of civil war. The Mujahideen were made up of various factions, many of which were united only in their opposition to the Soviet-backed government that had been in power prior to the Soviet invasion. These factions had differing ideologies and goals, and many of them continued to fight each other for control of Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal. However, their inability to establish a stable government after the Soviet withdrawal contributed to the rise of the Taliban, which was able to take control of much of the country and establish a new government based on Islamic law. The Taliban was formed in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s, the founder of the Taliban was Mullah Omar, a former mujahideen fighter who had lost an eye during the war against the Soviet Union. In 1994, he gathered a group of Islamic students and religious scholars, many of whom had received their education in Deobandi madrasahs located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, and established the Taliban as a political and military movement. The Taliban quickly gained support from many Afghans who were tired of the violence and instability that had plagued the country for years. They were able to take control of much of Afghanistan, eventually capturing the capital city of Kabul in 1996. Under the Taliban's rule, Afghanistan was run according to a strict interpretation of Islamic law. However, the group continued to maintain control of Afghanistan until they were ousted by US-led coalition forces in 2001, following the September 11 attacks. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is the name the Taliban gave to their government during their previous rule of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. After the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban were removed from power, and the Islamic Emirate of