We have almost as many questions about the word "Taliban" as we do about the regime it denotes: What's its derivation? Should "Taliban" always be preceded by "the"? Should we say "the Taliban is" or "the Taliban are"?
Ahmed Rashid's authoritative and fascinating book "Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia" (Yale, $14.95) provides some answers.
During the early 1990s, Afghanistan was a bubbling cauldron of hatred, chaos and destruction as warlords battled fiercely for their fiefdoms. Alarmed by this turmoil, several Afghani groups forged a coalition with the proclaimed goals of restoring peace, disarming the population and defending the Islamic character of Afghanistan.
Because most members of this coalition were students at "madrassas" (Arabic for Islamic schools), they named their organization the "Taliban" -- the plural of the Arabic word for student of Islam --"talib." So "Taliban" literally means "students of Islam."
This choice of an academic, non-political and non-threatening name was shrewd, Rashid observes, for it distanced the Taliban from party politics and suggested they intended to reform society rather than rule it.
"Taliban" is usually preceded by "the" when referring to the coalition or regime, just as we say "the Democrats," "the United Nations" or "the Mujaheddin" (the holy warriors), an earlier faction in Afghanistan.
But the noun "Taliban" can also be used without "the." Rashid, for instance, refers to "a large crowd of Taliban," "visiting Taliban" and "some Taliban."
As with many collective nouns, "Taliban" should be treated as a singular when referring to the regime as a single entity ("the Taliban is resisting") and as a plural when referring to its individuals ("the Taliban are fighting among themselves").
Yet, most publications jump from singular to plural without apparent rhyme or reason. The New York Times, for instance, has reported, "The Taliban HAVE a core of hardened fighters," and "There is no sign that the Taliban IS about to crack." Similarly, Rashid's book moves randomly from plural to singular: "the Taliban WERE at a crossroads" vs. "the Taliban HAS undertaken." So, linguistically as well as politically, the Taliban remains something of an enigma.
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