Bishop Venner later apologised for his comment, saying it was ”one small phrase in quite a long interview” intended to suggest that not all members of the Taliban were ”equally evil”.
He told the BBC: ”If that has caused offence, I am deeply grieved by it because that’s the very last thing that I would want to do.”
The bishop also issued a statement condemning the Taliban’s tactics and expressing his backing for UK forces.
I guess the bishop has had a change of heart, but it’s astonishing that he could have been so naive as to make his original statement about the Taliban’s admirable character traits. No question, religion plays a role in the Taliban’s ruthless strategy. But, mostly they use religion to attempt to legitimize their crushing oppression. It’s a disgrace that we have not heard more about how truly malevolent these people are. I can tell you that those who are locked in a daily life and death struggle with them have no doubt about the need to defeat them. There certainly is room to pity the people the Taliban coerce into their service, they are often reacting to the threat to kill their families and it is not an empty threat.