Taliban who destroyed Buddhas now in Afghan. govt.

[donsu]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/terror/cst-nws-afghan19.html


Ex-Taliban official elected

A former regional governor who oversaw the destruction of two massive 1,500-year-old Buddha statues during the Taliban's reign was elected to the Afghan parliament last month, officials said Tuesday as results from two provinces were finalized.

-snip-

Mawlawi Mohammed Islam Mohammadi, who was the Taliban's governor of Bamiyan province when the Buddha statues were blown up in March 2001, was chosen to represent the neighboring province of Samangan. Election law did not bar former Taliban officials from participating in the vote.

-snip-

Mohammadi said he should not be held responsible for the destruction of the statues, which the Taliban considered to be idolatrous and anti-Muslim.

''It was not my decision. It was foreigners like Chechens and Arabs with the Taliban who made the decision. They were crazy people,'' he said in a telephone interview, pointing to the influence of foreign Islamic extremists over the hard-line regime.
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the foreigners did it!

democracy in Afghanistan

is there such a thing as an ex Taliban?

[rodeodance]

1. "Rice Wants to Follow Afghan Model in Iraq" see this headline in LBN

[louis-t]

2. And Condi holding them up as an example

of what Iraq will be like. Idiots.

[enigma000]

3. ex-Taliban ?

I guess I can see that. I mean realistically speaking, we can't just kill or indefinitely imprison ALL of them. Besides, its the Afghanis' country, they should be able to select whomever they want for their parliament.

[donsu]

4. do you think the Afghani people wanted the Buddhas blown up?

nt

[enigma000]

5. That's a question, I don't have the answer for

But if they didn't want those statues blown up, the good people of Samangan aren't holding a grudge against this ex-Taliban guy.