back in the day the Taliban were most likely called “the mujahadeen” it’s been quite the evolution over the years-the “taliban” didn’t just spring up fully formed only a few yrs ago, you know.
The Taliban of today, despite what Fisk writes about 1882, were a faction of the “mujahideen” (Afghan fighters) against the Russians (1980-1989) but they arose as a political/religious force in the early 1990’s when anarchy reigned there (Thank Hekmatar? and his band of killers for allowing the rise of the Taliban to take place by warring on the Northern Alliance instead of forming an unified government).
THey practice a very pure form of Islam, much like the Khmer Rouge practiced a pure form of Communism based on the Red Chinese and No. Korean models/who were their teachers for the most part).
You need to have a correct timeline of when Obama’s mother worked in Pakistan before you can credit her with aiding the Taliban of today. I don’t even think she was alive by then as she died very young. It was his grandmother who was a banker in Hawaii who died in 2009.
Beware of writers who print things without documentation/citation and verifiable footnotes. This has killed the careers of many well-meaning journalists.
I’ve been a journalist for over 40 years and cut my teeth forty years ago today in a place you may have read of in history books, Vietnam and Cambodia. Metal landmines are not the other things that can kill the career of a journalist. Relying on undocumented accusations can blew up under you just like a bouncing betty and are just as deadly to you.