The Pashtun

     Since I am always pointing people to these two articles, I should make them easier to find!

• The beginnings of the Taliban.  This was written by an ex-Soviet Central Asia/Caucasus specialst in 2001.  Turkmenistan never gets mentioned anymore, but they were there are the beginning.
  
• The Taliban == The Pashtun.  I think it is important to point out that the "Taliban" are a co-extensive with the Pashtun language community.  It makes strategizing much easier, once you know it.