 It is unknown if the IMU directly worked with the Taliban or had any ties to them, given that the Taliban were ethnic Pashtuns who were pitted against the non-Pashtun ethnicities of Afghanistan.In 2001 the IMU was largely destroyed while fighting alongside the Taliban against the United States-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.An unknown number of their fighters escaped with remnants of the Taliban to Waziristan in Pakistan where they created a follow-up organization.