our human history includes many temples, images, icons, churches, monuments...and books and songs--and history also includes countless attempts to destroy the symbols of one group for the (supposed) glory of another. We rightfully decry the Taliban's assult on those statues, just as we abhor the desecration of Mosques or of synagogues....major artifacts of the past help us to understand what we are today!....but we still judge symbols. For instance, in the US, the Confederate flag is severely limited in what it can be used to promote, and has just about been bannned from most state flags and schools.

We DO differentiate between banning symbols that are used to promote hate and division (swastikas) and those that are simply another's revered past....but I know many southerners in the US would claim that the Confederate flag is only a 'part of their history'. I wonder if the Taliban has any notion of the difference? Or if they care?