On the recordOctober 24, 2000
the Taliban represent one of the great threats to stability and peace and civility on this planet. They, in fact, represent an aspect of Islam that if accepted and if influencing other areas of the world will have a tremendously, tremendously negative impact on the peace of the world but also the well-being of women who are in these Muslim countries who would then become chattel and treated like slaves, which is what happens under the Taliban's rule. The Taliban is anti-Western beyond belief. They treat their own people like tyrants, and vicious tyrants at that. They are engaged in terrorism against the West. They are involved up to their eyeballs in the drug trade. One-third of all of the world's heroin is grown in Taliban-controlled territory in Afghanistan. These people are evil, and they pose a threat to the Western world; but also they pose a threat to those positive elements among the Muslim world that would seek to be part of the world community and are responsible in their behavior and believe in the Western-style democracy or at least Western-style freedom for their people. Unfortunately, over the years, as I have worked with the pro-Western elements within Afghanistan, I have been undermined over and again by our own State Department.
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