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Source: http://jcpa.org/legacy-taliban-sunni-allies-tehran/
The Legacy of the Taliban: Sunni Allies of Teheran
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Dore Gold - Osama bin Laden planned and implemented the horrible 9/11 attack on the United States - against New York and against Washington, D.C. - from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The first lesson the West has learned from experience with the Taliban is that it must not allow terror sanctuaries to grow, to thrive, and to be used to plan attacks against the West. Another lesson comes from the Taliban decision to destroy pre-Islamic sites - destroying the heritage of mankind, beginning with the 2,000-year-old Buddhist statues in Afghanistan's Bamiyan Valley. There was even a discussion about destroying pre-Islamic sites in Egypt like the pyramids and the Sphinx. A third lesson is about the nature of relations between Shi'ites and Sunnis. Taliban are radical Sunnis. But Taliban today are equipped and trained by Iranian forces, although the Iranians are radical Shi'ites. So we see that an expanded Iran will also enhance Sunni radicalism as it has with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The writer, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, is a former Israeli UN ambassador and director-general of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.