As the Taliban swarm into Kabul, a spokesman for a major US thinktank is calling for a change of strategy on extremism. Hank Burgerbun, lead strategist at WEIISS, The Well Endowed Institute for International Strategic Studies in the USA, says there needs to be "a good 'ol head scratch" about these developments.
He declared "In the end this is a matter for the Afghans". He went on to say, "But somehow the moderate majority need to prevail. What the West needs to do is mobilise the large majority of moderate Muslims, who are reasonable and peaceful people, to resist the degradation of human rights and the brutal legal system. This is a tactic we have used before with great success, for example, during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, and this lead to the eventual withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989. In that case we supported the build up of a local group of Muslims who were prepared to fight against tyranny, who came to be known as the .. erm ... Taliban. Erm..." He declined to comment further.