Indeed. Compared to the Taliban, the Mujahedeen were slightly more.. uh.. tolerant or moderate?
There was no difference between the mujahideen and the Taliban. The founders of the Taliban literally fought among and served in the Pakistani-sponsored mujahideen parties known as "Peshawar Seven"
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was the figurehead of the mujahideen. There's about zero difference between him and the Taliban.
''Democracy and Islam do not go together,'' he said. ''Afghanistan will be a strict Islamic state. A group of wise men will adapt the laws to Islam, all alcohol will be banned, women will stay at home once again, and mullahs will have more power.''
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
the CIA, which gave Hekmatyar $600 million in the 1980s. Hekmatyar led the Islamic Party. During a stint as prime minister, he ordered the shelling of Kabul, reportedly killing 25,000 civilians in 1994. In 2002, the CIA tried to take him out in a drone air strike, but Hekmatyar survived to fight alongside the Taliban. He has sworn to do battle “till the last drop of blood moves in my body.”
Yunis Khalis
Khalis, the “godfather” of Nangarhar province, led a rival branch of Hekmatyar’s Islamic Party and served as chair of the US-backed coalition of anti-Soviet mujahideen. In 1988, he led a delegation of jihadis to the United Nations, where he met his benefactor, President Ronald Reagan. But in 2003, he turned around and declared jihad against US forces in Afghanistan.
Abdul Rasul Sayyaf
The one-time leader of the jihadist Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan, Sayyaf has received hundreds of millions of dollars in Saudi funding in addition to CIA aid. Revered by Wahhabists, he was a key mentor to 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as well as bin Laden. Together, Sayyaf and bin Laden built a network of training camps and bunkers around Jalalabad that was eventually used by Al Qaeda.