country. Bin Ladin, who had helped the Afghan
mujahidin fight the Soviets in the 1980s, returned
there with his family and followers in 1996 after
being driven out of sUdan as a result of pressure
by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States on
the Sudanese government. The Saudi government
attempted to have the Taliban arrest and place him
in their custody, but, instead, the Taliban retained
their alliance with him and used al-Qaida fight-
ers in their operations against opponents in the
country. Bin Ladin, in turn, used Afghanistan as a
base to declare Jihad against the United States and
israel, and to condemn the Saudi government for
allowing foreign “unbelievers” to occupy the land
of Islam’s two holiest mosques—those of Mecca
and Medina. When al-Qaida bombed U.S. embas-
sies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tan-
zania, in 1998, the United States retaliated with
cruise missile attacks on two al-Qaida camps in
Afghanistan. The U.S. attack did not inflict much
damage, but it strengthened al-Qaida’s position,
allowing it to move forward with plans that led to
the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen (2000) and
the 9/11 attacks on the mainland United States in
- A core group of Taliban fighters and their
leaders survived the U.S.-led invasion of Novem-
ber 2001 and retreated to remote regions along the
Afghan-Pakistani border, from which they have
launched attacks on the new Afghan government
and coalition forces. By 2006 they had regained
enough strength, with the help of income derived
from opium production, to increase the number
and effectiveness of attacks against their enemies.
It is thought that Mullah Umar still serves as a
Taliban leader.
See also bUrqa; islamic government; islamism;
madrasa; reFUgees; reneWal and reForm move-
ments; terrorism; Wahhabism.
Further reading: Steve Coll, Ghost Wars: The Secret
History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the
Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (New York: Pen-
guin, 2004); Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner (New
York: Riverhead Books, 2003); Peter Marsden, The
Taliban: War and Religion in Afghanistan (London: Zed
Books, 2002); Ahmed Rashid, Taliban: Militant Islam,
Oil, and Fundamentalism in Central Asia (New Haven,
Conn.: Yale University Press, 2000); Lawrence Wright,
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (New
York: Random House, 2007).Tamerlane (Timur, Timur-e Lang)
(1336–1405) great Mongol ruler who built an
empire based in Central Asia, but whose armies
devastated many Middle Eastern and Indian cities
Tamerlane, born the son of a nomadic chief, rose
to become one of the great empire builders of
history. By the time of his death, his kingdom
stretched from india and Central Asia into Rus-
sia and tUrkey, and threatened china. He helped
the main cities of his native land (now Uzbeki-
stan), bUkhara and Samarkand, become prosper-
ous trading centers along the Silk Road, but the
peoples of the Middle East and India suffered as a
result of his destructive conquests.
Genghis Khan (1167–1227) invaded Central
Asia in 1219 and 1220, and the khan’s second
son, Chagatai (d. 1241), was given the territory
to govern. Tamurlane, born into the Barlas tribe,
would, as he rose to power, claim descent from the
great khan through Chagatai. As a young man, he
was wounded with an arrow, and he would have
limited use of one arm and leg as a result. His
Westernized name means “Timur the Lame.”
Putting his own physical problems aside, how-
ever, in the 1360s Tamerlane began to take control
of the lands inhabited by his tribe’s neighbors,
and, by 1369, he took control of all the territory
formerly ruled by Chagatai. He assumed sovereign
powers and established his capital at Samarkand.
He almost immediately began to add territory to
his empire. Largely self-educated, he gradually
became a most capable general and developed
shrewd political skills. He invited the peoples he
conquered into his rule and integrated them into
his army. He pushed into India in the 1290s and
after the turn of the century moved westwardTamerlane 659 J