I stumbled on this thread while I was thinking about an aspect of social Darwinism — specifically the development of concepts of divinity. I think the Taliban constitute a dead-end in this phenomenon.
We are told that Joshua leading the Israelites into Canaan roughly thirty-five centuries ago "left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded," — men, women, children and cattle. This same God of Joshua is called upon as "Allah" by the Taliban today. They have reached a dead end in the evolution of religious thought, and are likely to become extinct.
