American defense experts as well as many of their Western counterparts mistakenly believe that the Taliban and al-Qaeda are twins and act in unison. But in reality there were major differences between Taliban leader Mullah Omar and bin Laden. The second mistaken belief is that if the Taliban gets control of Afghanistan, al-Qaeda will be back once again.

The truth is quite the contrary. There has never been an airtight agreement nor a true organic relationship between the two organizations. In fact, there are serious ideological and personality differences between bin Laden and Omar. The Taliban is an indigenous Afghan movement made up of mostly ethnic Pashtuns. The Taliban is essentially the child of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), created for two reasons: first, to put an end to the ongoing civil war and secondly to fill the power vacuum left after the Soviet presence in Afghanistan. In this favorable environment Omar solidified his power and gained control of most of the country. He took the title of amir-ul-mumineen (supreme commander of the faithful). Afghanistan was declared an “Islamic Emirate.” The Taliban administration worked under the principles of a medieval theocracy and served as an Islamic inquisition.

While Omar was still consolidating his victory by overcoming his rivals in the civil war, bin Laden, expelled from Sudan in 1996, returned to Afghanistan, his old battleground, where he fought the “communist infidel” on the side of his fellow Muslims.

However, a conflict of interest and character differences emerged shortly after. Bin Laden wanted to leave his imprint on the world stage by leading a “jihad” against the Western world, while Omar wanted to keep a low profile and hold onto the home ground. He had no international ambitions and wanted no public visibility. Omar was patient between 1996 and 1999 and warned bin Laden to sever his links with the world media because it was drawing the wrath of the world against the Taliban regime as well.

Another issue that upset Omar and his group was bin Laden’s fatwas declaring “jihad,” or holy war, against the United States and ordering Muslims to kill Americans. Omar declared such fatwas “null and void.” Such fatwas were way over the head of bin Laden as a religious figure because failing to have completed the mandatory 12 years of Quranic studies, he did not qualify for the position of mufti. Hence, he was not entitled to issue fatwas.

Relations with the US

Today the one-eyed, 1.98-meter-tall, five-time wounded veteran Omar is 50 years old. This is not a proper age for a fighter. Acting out of the instinct of survival and having a part in the future of his country, he is on record as saying, “The United States and the United Nations should place international monitors to observe Osama bin Laden pending the resolution of the case, but so far we have received no reply.”

Omar has also publicly made it clear that the Taliban regime would like to “resolve or dissolve” the bin Laden issue one way or another. In return he expressed that the United States should establish dialogue whereby “an easing and then lifting of UN sanctions that are strangling Afghanistan and killing the people” will end.