[Quote]:

Though courteous and hospitable, the commanders expressed ugly views. Asked about an Islamist acid attack on schoolgirls in Kandahar, one said: “What else do they deserve? A good woman needs only Islam, not school.” With justification, they also slammed the failure of President Hamid Karzai’s government to control Afghanistan’s runaway crime. Yet their response to this problem was of the well-advertised Taliban kind. “Under Hamid Karzai, not one murderer has been executed in public!” exclaimed the more senior man in wide-eyed amazement. “No robbers have had their hands cut off!”

In many Taliban-held areas, the threat of such punishments is said to have banished crime. And local people, sick of the lawlessness, seem glad of this. Even some living in government-controlled cities are reported to journey to Taliban sharia courts for justice, spurning the corrupt government alternative.

Moar