شریعت (Shari'at, Sharia) , Kandahar, Afghanistan, قوس 1374 (Qaus) 27 - قوس 1379 (Qaus) 29, (1995 December 18 - 2000 December 19)

Scope and content:

Year 1, no. 1 through Year 5, no. 93 (inconsistently numbered, some issues bound out of sequence). [Alternate title in English from year two: Shariat Weekly.] 384 issues, comprising a near complete collection (lacking only year 1, no. 3) of the official weekly (later semi-weekly) newspaper of the Taliban movement, largely in Pushto with some Dari, edited by Maulavi Ahmad Jan Ahmadi, Mullah Asadullah Hanifi, Maulavi Abdul Rahman Ahmad Hotaki, and others, covering Afghan and Islamic history and governance, Afghan and international news, and official decrees, alongside extensive anti-Rabbani, anti-communist, and anti-Western writings, sparsely illustrated in accordance with strict Sharia law prohibiting graven images. Occasional special issues in color ink. Published in Kabul, Afghanistan and Peshawar, Pakistan (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) from 1995-2000 (1374-1379).

Established prior to the group’s control of the Afghan government under Mullah Omar (who was declared Amir-ul-Mumineen, or Supreme Caliph of Islam, in April 1996), Shari'at charts the rise of the Taliban from its earliest influence through the apex of its rule. Specific topics include the corruption of the Rabbani government, reports linking Iran with Ahmad Shah Masood and the Northern Alliance, condemnations of Israel, Osama Bin Laden's alliance with the Taliban and international efforts to prosecute him, limits to the opium trade, India and Pakistan, Chechnaya, and the Clinton sex scandal.

Access and use