system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: The difference between al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and their respective significance.
gpt
Taliban=Afghanistan, obviously. They were the government of Afghanistan from 1996 until the US invaded in 2001. They follow a strict interpretation of Islam and enforced it in their society. Then after we invaded and installed Hamid Karzai, the Taliban still controls/governs different parts of rural Afghanistan, which is why the US is currently attempting to negotiate with them as they close out the war, because they have legitimacy to some peopel in some areas. So Taliban=government.

Al-Qaeda=all over the world. They are also Muslim based, but instead of focusing on governing, they focus on what can be called global jihad. Some people will tell you this means holy war, the word in Arabic literally means to struggle against (an external force). That force in this context is the West, and different scholars have different thoughts about why they are at war with the West. So instead of being one big group, they are based on a system of 'cells' that are loosely connected, not everyone knows each other etc. So Al-Qaeda=causing chaos wherever they please. 

They are related because the Taliban is sympathetic to the aims of Al-Qaeda, so the Taliban allowed them to have a 'base' in Afghanistan to carry out their actions on 9/11. When the US military meets a member of the Taliban in the field they negotiate with them, when they meet a member of Al-Qaeda they throw them in Guantanamo.