Articles
Posted on Sat 21 August 2021
Letters: We need to attend to the countries that have provided the Taliban with
SIR – Nick Timothy (Comment, August 16) is undoubtedly right to claim that Pakistan’s military intelligence had a hand in creating the Mujahideen, some of whom became the precursors of the Taliban.
In this endeavour, however, it was actively assisted by the West in the belief that fundamentalist Islamism would be an effective bulwark against the Marxist presence of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
This proved to be true, but it has spawned not only the Taliban but also extremist Islamist movements all over the world. The biblical adage that if you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind has again been shown to be correct.
Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy & Dialogue London W1
This letter was first published in the Daily Telegraph on 21st August and can be accessed here