On “<i>taliban</i>,” in Light of Recent Events

This article represents a critical intervention on the monosemantic use of the terms “taliban” and “talib” in light of the rise of the militant Islamic movement in Afghanistan (and subsequently also Pakistan), which has now established its central government over Afghanistan for the second time. Employing the tools of critical discourse analysis, first the role of investigative journalists and scholars of various academic disciplines in cementing this singular meaning of “taliban” is highlighted. It then outlines the manifold historical semantics of this oftentimes quite positively evaluated term across the Pashtun Borderland are outlined. The article also contains also the implicit plea that scholars need to refrain from having their academic work tainted by their own political proclivities and the rather short-lived interests of political decision-makers and thus to keep a much more open mind.