Taliban
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GC: n

S: UN – http://www.un.org/News/dh/latest/afghan/un-afghan-history.shtml (last access: 11 December 2014); BBC – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-11451718 (last access: 16 December 2014).

N: 1. Taliban (n): Sunni fundamentalist movement begun in Afghanistan, from Pashto plural of Arabic tālib “student;” so called because it originated among students in Pakistani religious schools.
2. Originally, “taliban,” the plural of “taleb” or “talib,” referred to a group of students training in a series of Islamic seminaries or madrasas in Pakistan. In current usage, Taliban refers to the fundamentalist Muslim movement whose militia took control of Afghanistan, or to its members. The English-speaking press has adopted the original or non-English plural form to refer to the members (“the Taliban are”) which obliges using a phrase or a new term to convey the singular (“Taliban member,” “Talibaner”). Adopting the foreign plural is customary in English, despite widespread use of the anglicized version of the term (“a Taliban,” “some Talibans”) in non-press documents. The plural form with an “s” has been officially approved in French.
3. Cultural Interrelation: In the film “Lone survivor” from 2013, directed by Peter Berg and starring by Mark Wahlberg we clearly found the concept of “Taliban”. The film was inspired in the novel written by the military Marcus Luttrell about the Operation Red Wings, which aim was to capture the chief of the Taliban Ahmad Shah during the summer of 2005. Finally the operation failed: all the soldiers died that took part on it except the author of the novel (which has evolved into the film).

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Taliban (last access: 11 December 2014). 2. TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 15 December 2014). 3. IMBD – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1091191/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (last access: 15 December 2014).

SYN: Taliban member, Talibaner.

S: TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 11 December 2014)

CR: jihadism