What does the Taliban look like?

“These were strange-looking men with long straggly hair and beards and camouflage vests over their shalwar kamiz, which they wore with the trousers well above the ankle. They had jogging shoes or cheap plastic sandals on their feet, and sometimes stockings over their heads with holes for their eyes, and they blew their noses dirtily into the ends of their turbans. They wore black badges which said 'SHARIAT YA SHAHADAT – SHARIA LAW OR MARTYRDOM' and sometimes black turbans, so people called them Tor Patki or the Black-Turbaned Brigade. They looked so dark and dirty that my father’s friend described them as ‘people deprived of baths and barbers’.”

What did the Taliban do?

 The Taliban were the main barrier getting in the way of Malala achieving her mission.“I was afraid of going to school because the Taliban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools.” Not only did they take away educational rights for females, but they also took away the right to obtain a vocation. The Taliban made people terrified to leave their home as they were seen killing people publicly in towns. These cruel men didn't allow the religious practices citizens in Pakistan grew up using and did anything they could to get society to praise their horrific act.

Why were the Taliban in Swat Valley?

The Taliban started taking over countries in Asia because they wanted as much space as they could obtain. Eventually, they wanted the people living there to follow their rules while they became more drawn to power. If Islamic practices were not praised by society, there was violence, public shaming, and other mental/physical abuse.