Afghanistan has a familiar power back in place. Kabul has fallen. The Taliban have won. And Pakistanis are euphoric.
To many a foe, but to others a friend, the cloistered group of extremists has long held cordial ties with Islamabad, and the Taliban’s recent rise from the flames has left many Pakistanis in raptures.
Even the country’s prime minister, Imran Khan, has been waxing lyrical, heaping eulogies on the group of militants, who openly violated women’s rights, in addition to flouting a number of other norms of the civilized world, during their stint in power from 1996 to 2001.
Khan, who often resorts to anti-West rhetoric, said Monday during a ceremony in Islamabad that Afghans have broken the “shackles of slavery.” It was seen as a clear endorsement of Afghanistan’s new rulers, but also as a sideswipe at those who invaded Pakistan’s neighbor in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the United States.
h/t John
