Velshi: Some governments are empirically evil. The Taliban is one of them.

38 million Afghans are waiting, fearful, to find out how their latest rulers will govern. If history is any indication, it will not end well for anyone who does not believe exactly what the Taliban believes. That’s not America’s fault, but we have played a central role for the last twenty years by starting something we could not finish. The question now for America is: what do we do about it? One thing that is abundantly clear is that the Taliban cannot be trusted. So, the challenge becomes: how to establish a relationship with the Taliban without normalizing the barbaric religious fundamentalists and their rise to power. The withdrawal from Afghanistan was inevitable. But America’s next moves are critical. There are plenty of governments in the world that are anti-democratic without being outright demonic. We must find some way to support the Afghan people, stave off terror, while preventing the Taliban from joining the ranks of legitimate governments and the privileges they enjoy.Sept. 5, 2021