25 Years in 25 Days (1996): The Rise of the Taliban and the Seeds of Terror

This fall, the Brian Lehrer Show is marking 25 years of Brian at WNYC with a year-by-year look at stories that mattered from 1989 to 2014. Find the full schedule and lots more here.

This frame grab from the Saudi-owned television network MBC (Middle East Broadcasting Center) shows alleged Al Qaida spokesman Suleiman Abu Ghaith sitting to the right of Osama bin Laden.

(AFP/Getty Images/Getty)

In 1996, the Taliban seized control of Kabul, Afghanistan, and imposed strict rules for Afghanis - particularly women. Sarah Chayes, Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment and former NPR reporter in Afghanistan and the Middle East, looks back at that moment as a pivot point for the rise of radical Islam and the roots of terrorism still being felt today.

Just mentioned 2001 Taliban destruction of Bamiyan statues http://t.co/vTN2hDIYtG (this was the first time our show discussed the Taliban)

— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) October 8, 2014