Mobilising to a Victorious Insurgency: Locating Identity, Grievance, and Greed in the Taliban’s Strategy

In August 2021, the Taliban wrested control of Afghanistan, as the United States (US) was completing its withdrawal of troops from the country. Since then, observers have attempted to explain the Taliban’s victory by drawing inferences on issues such as current geopolitical shifts, [1] domestic politics in the US, [2] Pakistan’s support of the Taliban, [3] the inefficiency of the previous Afghan government, [4] and the Taliban’s tactics, including psychological warfare. [5] There is a dearth, however, in scholarly efforts to understand the Taliban’s internal mobilisation, its contribution to a successful insurgency, and its implications for the Taliban government and the rest of the global community.