Quote Originally Posted by jcustis View Post
Ummm...yeah, we need to wind down a little bit. Being an Afghan does not make one a religious zealot no more than being a goatherd makes one ignorant.

Advancing arguments this way is not how business is done withing the Small Wars Council. We love arguments, and get into them all the time...but we try to make sure they are substantive and well-thought out.

And yes, please post that intro.
Are you saying the Taliban are not religious zealots? If Taliban are such zealots, then being a supporter of the Taliban makes one either a) a religious zealot or b) intimidated by religious zealots.

WRT to ignorance, I don't disagree there is no evidence they are ignorant (i.e., uneducated), but the likelihood is high. What passes for "education" in much of Pakistan and Afghanistan and many other areas where islam is the state religion is memorization of the Koran. This is indoctrination, not education.

I take the goatherds' reporting the presence of Murphy's team to the Taliban as evidence of the goatherds' support of the Taliban, whether by affinity or by intimidation and ignorance.