We were asked: “Do you believe the Taliban are a force for good in the world?”
Our answer follows …
We are not believers in “forces for good or evil”.
We believe, however, that private individuals, groups of people, or countries should behave in accordance with certain basic principles.
One of the most fundamental principles is that a person or country should not violently attack another person or country without a valid reason. This principle is also the basis of the Charter of the UN, and the US government of the time played a key role in establishing the UN and laying down its principles.
The US war against Afghanistan started by G. W. Bush requesting the Afghan government of the time to hand over to them Osama bin Laden.
The Afghan government agreed to hand him over to a country which would guarantee a fair trial. The US government did not accept this condition and started the war.
This was clearly a war without a valid reason, and, as such, a criminal act of aggression.
Once the war started, to justify the war the US and European politicians and media started a campaign of vilification against the “Taliban”, so as to gain public support for this war.
Such campaign does appeal to some people, and makes them believe that the Taliban are “bad guys”, or “a force for evil”, while the US and their allies are “doing a good thing”, and are “a force for good”. But such propaganda in itself is an evil act, and it does not justify the war or makes it less of a criminal act.
Similar situation was with the US war against Iraq. And this behaviour of the US government is driven, not by what the attacked by the US countries do, but by internal US politics. And this is clearly illegal, criminal and truly evil.