The Social base of radical Islamist groups in Afghanistan: The Case of Taliban

Until now, there has not been a consensus on a common definition of the concept of fundamentalism. Because fundamentalist groups have become the most important source of identity for Islamic countries as a social phenomenon. In other words, today, fundamentalism is used to explain the ideological, political and religious attitudes of some active Islamic groups and they are famous as Islamic fundamentalism. As stated above, the main purpose of this study is to analyze the internal factors that cause the increase of the number of fundamentalist groups in the Post-Taliban Afghanistan. On the other hand, the external factors that enable the fundamentalist groups to maintain their existence, as well as the terrorism, especially the rise of the Taliban movement, and the strengthening of the foreign countries' policy, are considered important for this study. In other words, it was aimed to analyze the social factors that led to the strengthening of radical Islamist groups in Afghanistan. In this context, there are two factors in Afghanistan that enable the rise and maintenance of radical Islamist groups. Political reasons or the role of global and regional super-powers that have increased the speed of this phenomenon and made this phenomenon permanent. In addition, socio-cultural factors, which are the internal dynamics of Afghanistan society, play an important role. For example: the classic education system, tribal life style, the tradition of Pashtun Walli, Black market, Immigration specially in Iran and Pakistan, Social Gaps, Social Separation, Poverty, Corruption and the existence of Taliban ideology.