Taliban have no self-doubt; they don’t care if Afghanistan goes down

There is no meaningful evidence that the Taliban are feeling any existential crisis, much less that they care about making money or running an economy

In this handout photograph released by the Taliban, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, centre left, senior Haqqani group leader Anas Haqqani, center right, Abdullah Abdullah, second right, head of Afghanistans National Reconciliation Council and f

Joe Biden doesn’t know what to make of the Taliban. Asked in an ABC News interview last week if he thought the Afghan insurgents had changed, the U.S. president gave a tortured answer that amounted to, “Yes, no and maybe.” It is worth examining his exchange with George Stephanopoulos in some detail for a full appreciation of Biden’s self-delusion:

Q: What happens now in Afghanistan? Do you believe the Taliban have changed?

A: No. I think… let me put it this way: I think they’re going through sort of an existential crisis about do they want to be recognized by the international community as being a legitimate government. I’m not sure they do.

Q: They care about their beliefs more?

B: Well, they do. But they also care about whether they have food to eat, whether they have an income that they can provide for their… that they can make any money and run an economy. They care about whether or not they can hold together the society that they, in fact, say they care so much about. I’m not counting on any of that. But that is part of what I think is going on right now. I’m not sure I would’ve predicted, George — nor would you or anyone else — that when we decided to leave, that they’d provide safe passage for Americans to get out.

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