The Taliban's fundamentalist interpretation of the Koran dictated more than guidelines for criminal justice and the lack of freedoms for women. It also urged Muslims to defend their religion at any cost against non-Muslims. It was, the Taliban insisted, the highest honor for a Muslim to die fighting against infidels, or nonbelievers. In fact, the Taliban looked to a future global war in which Aghans and other Muslims from all over the world could join together and defeat the enemies of Islam.

The Taliban regime had more immediate matters to attend to when it first came to power in Afghanistan, however. The money it made from the opium trade was used to fight against those mujahideen armies that resisted it, especially in the north. However, by the end of 1996 the Taliban had found another source of income—one that...