Diversity is so exciting. You’re always learning new things. Like there are two Taliban gangs in America.
The suspect in a shooting at the Taylorsville State Liquor and Wine Store has been formally charged with attempted murder.
23-year-old Tyler Traveon Mhaka, also known as Taliban Tiny, has been charged with attempted murder (first-degree felony) after allegedly shooting an individual inside the Taylorsville State and Liquor Wine Store, following a road rage incident.
What’s the Taliban that ‘Taliban Tiny’ belonged to?
According to court documents, Mhaka is a documented Taliban gang member.
The Taliban Gang is not associated with the terrorist organization known as the Taliban. According to the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, there is a local gang in Utah called the Taliban Gang. There is also a Taliban Gang based in California that is not associated with Mhaka or the Utah gang, according to the FBI.
Due to family ties in the Middle East, prosecutors are asking that Mhaka be held without bail
Family ties in the Middle East are always a plus.
The Utah Gang Project lists a Taliban/Iraqi Mafia Gang whose affiliations are seen as Bloods. The Utah Taliban are apparently Iraqi refugees.
“When we had Iraqi refugees show up that were displaced from the war, a lot of the younger generations came together and started calling themselves that,” explained Det. Zach Van Emmerik from the Metro Gang Unit.
Van Emmerik said another gang, called the Iraqi Mafia, rivals the Rose Park Taliban and is run by only a few major families.
Thanks to refugee resettlement, the Iraqi Taliban are in Utah.
Today, I’ve also got an FPM+ (paywall) article on a ‘Catholic’ refugee resettlement group in Salt Lake City that’s run by Muslims.
One of the Catholic Community Services of Utah’s biggest success stories is Aden Batar, who was one of the first Somali Muslims resettled by Catholic Community Services in Utah. Catholic Community Services then put Batar to work as a case manager to help bring in more Muslim refugees to Utah. The Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) then helped him become an immigration lawyer and then the Somali headed up the head of Migration and Refugee Services for Catholic Community Services.
Batar also serves as the president of the Islamic Society of Greater Salt Lake.
Imagine a world without refugee resettlers and a world without the Taliban in Utah.
Daniel Greenfield
Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism. Daniel became CEO of the David Horowitz Freedom Center in 2025.
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