>>what did/does your brother think of the forceful removal of the Taleban?<< My brother, who taught architecture in Afghanistan in the 70's, was very sorry to learn that the CIA supported the Taliban on the theory that this was the best defense against communism. The CIA still is paranoid when it comes to communism because so many of its personnel were chosen on the basis of how anti-communist they were, based on their background experiences.
Islamic fundamentalism has a parallel in the growing tendencies toward fundamentalism in the U.S.--the idea that the Koran (or in our case, the Bible) has all the answers, even for secular issues. The worst problem with Islamic fundamentalism is that it stems from a tradition where there was only a religious state run by caliphs, sultans, and other religious figures. Whereas, the secular states in the western world stem from the distinction between religious and secular powers drawn by Christ himself, when HE advised in the Book of Matthew to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.
If we don't understand where Muslim people are coming from, we're never going to be successful in dealing with them. You should read a recently published book by one of the best Arab scholars, Bernard Lewis, entitled "What Went Wrong," which discusses these problems.
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