An African version of the Taliban? The Islamic Courts Union in Somalia (2006) and the Taliban Afghanistan (1996)

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyze the dynamics of state collapse in Somalia and Afghanistan and the extent to which the emergence of the Taliban and the UIC was a local Islamist response rather than a reinforcement of foreign jihad and foreign terrorists. This paper argues that the rise of the new religious movements was created from a warrior culture that nurtured the dynamic force to mobilize society in a very rapid and swift way. This rapid mobilization changed the traditional formation of people and mobilized societies into different social and political structures as well as a greater vulnerability among the faithful to calls for extremist action.