(New York, NY) – On January 20, the Taliban claimed two deadly attacks, in Pakistan and Afghanistan, respectively.The killing of at least 22 students and teachers by the Taliban at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, Pakistan, was but the latest in a series of atrocities targeting students carried out by the Islamic extremist group.

On December 16, 2014, Taliban militants brutally and systematically murdered more than 140 children at the Army Public School in Peshawar, about 20 miles from the recent university attack. Taliban militants operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan have set schools on fire, banned girls from classrooms, and murdered students at their desks in a quest to impose a radical Islamic ideology on the two countries.

On the same day as the Pakistan university attack, a Taliban suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed seven media professionals from independent television network Tolo News while they were traveling on a bus in the heart of Afghanistan’s capital. More than 20 others were wounded in the attack. The Taliban had issued a threat against Tolo News last year.

The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is releasing an updated resource detailing the history, ideology, and leadership of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As the U.S. continues its military drawdown in Afghanistan, the government is witnessing an increase in the intensity of Taliban attacks while simultaneously trying to pursue peace talks with the group, which first swept into power in 1996 and became the willing hosts to Osama bin Laden and the planners of the September 11 attacks.