The Buddhas had to be destroyed by the Taliban to get the world thinking about Afghanistan.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The people suffering most from the Taliban were Afghans.
The Taliban's acts of cultural vandalism - the most infamous being the destruction of the giant Bamiyan Buddhas - had a devastating effect on Afghan culture and the artistic scene. The Taliban burned countless films, VCRs, music tapes, books, and paintings. They jailed filmmakers, musicians, painters, and sculptors.
To leave Afghanistan as a playground for terrorists and adventurers was simply not possible anymore.
The Afghans did not have sophisticated weapons like the Soviets did, but with their faith they defeated a superpower.
But deluded people don't realize that their own mind is the Buddha. They keep searching outside.
I mean, the Taliban, my view is that they have been weakened.
The attacks of 9/11 came out of Afghanistan. It was a failed state, a rogue nation. That's why al Qaeda was there in the first place.
The Taliban is resilient.
Any conception of human well-being you could plausibly have, the Taliban patently fails to maximize it.
Afghanistan was always a backwater in the Islamic world.
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