The enemy at the gates was the thought going through my mind when I read about the imminent capture of Kabul and with that the whole of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021. According to western analysts it was much faster than they had expected. Then again, the same set of people also thought that they can negotiate with the Taliban and reach a deal on an inclusive government. Some people never learn from the past. Western countries were adamant on not giving the new Taliban regime legitimacy through recognition. The condition put forth was that the West will see if the Taliban has changed and become moderate and then move to accept the government in Kabul. When did the tiger change its stripes? If the Taliban had changed, then there is no way they would have executed their shift takeover of Afghanistan. It needed the ruthlessness to instill fear in the people and Afghan army to overrun the country in a few weeks time. Talk about change- the Taliban is, if it is even possibl...