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Good Question: How Is Al Qaeda Different From The Taliban?

(CBS 5) –- You hear these words and the War in Afghanistan instantly come to mind. David Mezzera of Vallejo asked this Good Question: What is the difference between Al Qaeda and the Taliban?

ANSWER:  According to Stephen Zunes, Chair of the Dept. of Middle Eastern Studies at USF, Al Qaeda is a network of underground terror cells led by Osama Bin Laden. The group mostly consists of people from the Arabian Peninsula who for a time found sanctuary in Afghanistan.  The Taliban are almost all Afghans organized out of refugee camps in Pakistan where they lived during the Soviet occupation. Both groups employ terror to control populations.

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