LAHORE, PAKISTAN (Catholic Online) - Some Pakistani Muslims have identified themselves as former supporters and sympathizers of the Taliban, but no more. As the Taliban rabidly attack anyone and anything they find offensive, they alienate supporters and people who would at the minimum let them have their way in their own lands.

For the Taliban to actively seek to destroy things that offend them is nothing new. Obviously, the Taliban had a close working relationship with Al Qaeda, the group responsible for the September 11 attacks on New York City and Washington. Most also remember the Taliban's destruction of ancient Buddhist statues that had stood for centuries in Afghanistan. The Taliban had no regard for the historical and cultural significance of the icons, they destroyed them entirely with all the explosives they could muster.

Since 2005, the Taliban have been waging their own campaign of destruction across Pakistan. They have attacked Sufi shrines, and the tombs of mystics and poets. They consider all these things to be "un-Islamic" and as a consequence they must be destroyed.

Most Muslims hold the Sufis in high esteem. Sufi Islam is a branch of Islam which has a heavy emphasis on mysticism. Obviously, this does not sit well with the fundamentalist Taliban and who place much of their emphasis on politics and law. However, lacking a legitimate government, they attempt to force their political and religious views on others through terror and intimidation should persuasion prove lacking.

The attacking of religious shrines has greatly harmed the image of the Taliban. Not only have they fallen far out of favor with much of the world, but even in places where they would normally be welcomed or at least tolerated, they have lost goodwill. Pakistan, a lukewarm friend of the United States at best, has carried on its own conflict with the Taliban. And while large segments of the Pakistani population have been sympathetic towards the Taliban, that sympathy is beginning to wear thin.

Many Muslims argue that the Taliban's disrespect and disregard for the sacred shrines of others and the tombs of the dead, reveal that the Taliban are much more about politics than religion. Islamic apologists argue that Islam is a religion of peace, but groups like the Taliban exist in stark contrast to that claim. Since many Westerners tend to judge Muslims by the lot, rather than by sect or individual (as it should be), the Taliban are showing themselves to be a tremendous liability to Muslims around the world.

Part of the reason why the Taliban are lashing out against educational institutions, shrines, and the tombs of mystics is because they associate these institutions with liberty and peace. One would be hard-pressed to identify the Islamic mystic who advocates conflict. Temples are not built to advocate war, and education provides knowledge and literacy, important tools in the keeping of peace.

But through their actions, the Taliban have demonstrated time and again that they are not a peaceful organization. The Taliban are bringers of war, violence, and destruction in all its forms. If they cannot destroy the person, then they are intent on destroying the relics. They falsely believe that by killing people, destroying shrines, and suicide bombing schools, they can kill ideas.

While the actions of the Taliban are both reprehensible and tragic, they are also futile and self-defeating. And it is difficult to imagine that in a world where freedom and ideas are flowing ever more freely, that the Taliban and their oppression can last much longer.

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