A Leopard doesn’t Change its Spots

The new decree by the Taliban regime i Kabul that women must once more wear the burqa was expected and illustrates the profoundly reactionary nature of Islamist movements generally and the futility in hoping for so-called “moderates”, “reformists” etc. among Islamists although they can surely be politically pragmatic and engage in political lying. There are simply no moderate or reformist totalitarians whether Islamist or otherwise. In fact, the Taliban refuse to learn from the mistake of giving refuge to senior al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan (something which led to the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001) as the Taliban regime continues to harbor al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. In fact the new Taliban regime can be expected to become just as atrocious as the previous pre-2001 Taliban regime was.