Frud Bezhan

The Taliban has traditionally drawn on ethnic Pashtuns in its insurgency against the Afghan government, but it has begun to successfully recruit disgruntled members of other ethnic groups as it expands its reach. Disenfranchised communities of ethnic Tajiks, Turkmen, and Uzbeks are joining the Taliban in the country’s north, according to local elders and tribal leaders in the region. The new recruits have given the militant group the ability to seize territory in areas outside of its traditional power base in Pashtun-majority areas in the country’s south and east.