. . . . "The Taliban (Pashto: \u0637\u0627\u0644\u0628\u0627\u0646\u200E \u1E6D\u0101lib\u0101n \"students\"), alternately spelled Taleban, is an Islamic fundamentalist political movement in Afghanistan. It spread throughout Afghanistan and formed a government, ruling as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from September 1996 until December 2001, with Kandahar as the capital. However, it gained diplomatic recognition from only three states: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates."@en . .