“The Taliban were merely misguided, but they intended only good”

Said by someone sitting in a luxury apartment on the Arab Gulf coast, lauding the new Islamic lifestyle he has become accustomed to.

6 Responses to ““The Taliban were merely misguided, but they intended only good””


  1. 1 andalus

    That seems to be the position that most thoughtful and informed Muslims have expressed regarding the Taliban.

    Perhaps the person you heard it from was in no position to make such a sentiment, but that goes to their state, not the truth of the statement itself.

  2. 2 thabet

    I just doubt ‘we’ would have be so understanding were we to have lived under the Taliban.

  3. 3 andalus

    Salaam ‘alaikum,

    You’re probably right.

    Though I think the problem, at least for me, would have been living in Afghanistan with all it’s economic and infrastructure deficiencies..
    The strict interpretation of Islamic law is far less problematic; in fact it might not even be a concern to the person who struggling just to eat.

    But that interpretation transferred to us in the West, I agree, would be completely unworkable.

  4. 4 Baba

    The problem with the Taliban before they were overrun with ex-patriate Saudis is that they didn’t bother to address any modern civil service issues. You just can’t have a functional government if everything is shut down after dhur prayer. The whole burqa/women’s rights/oppression thing is kind of a red herring.

  5. 5 andalus

    iBaba

    Agreed

  1. 1 “Alternative narratives”: The United N… « Talk Islam

Leave a Reply