What characterized the Arab mujahedeen movement after the Soviets began their withdrawal?

The term "Mujahideen" historically has referred to any persons or groups of people who are engaged in jihad. Jihad refers to any action which promotes the Islamic faith, but has often been interpreted or exploited to justify warfare, as in the Islamic conquests of the seventh through ninth centuries, or the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East today. When we use the term today, we are most often referring to Islamic groups engaged in some...

The term "Mujahideen" historically has referred to any persons or groups of people who are engaged in jihad. Jihad refers to any action which promotes the Islamic faith, but has often been interpreted or exploited to justify warfare, as in the Islamic conquests of the seventh through ninth centuries, or the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East today. When we use the term today, we are most often referring to Islamic groups engaged in some kind of warfare.

In the context of the Cold War, the mujahideen refers to a number of Afghan groups who united, though loosely, in rebellion against the Afghan government. The government supported the Soviet Union and Soviet troops were brought into the country to try and maintain control. The mujahideen and Soviet armies fought with escalating scale and impact of violence, until the withdrawal of the Soviet troops in 1989.

After the Soviet withdrawal, the loosely united mujahideen forces broke up into groups which fought each other for control of territories. One of the groups organized in the wake of this split was the Taliban- an armed movement of mostly refugee individuals who followed a highly fundamentalist form of Islam. The leader of this movement, Mohammed Omar, used the dissatisfaction of the Afghan people with the inconsistent and corrupt mujahideen rule as a unifying force. 

The mujahideen, post-Soviet withdrawal, is characterized by fragmentation, a high degree of armed conflict, and the establishment of new extremist-fundamentalist groups. The effects of this fragmentation and re-unification of identity can still be felt today throughout the Middle East.