U.S. Ties With Afghanistan

In response to your editorial, “Better Wary Ties Than Enmity; Washington is right to talk with Afghanistan’s victors” (Oct. 4), I must say that I do not find your argument for recognizing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan very compelling.

You mention that “Afghanistan is one of those unhappy places” in an unstable region as the crux of your argument in favor of establishing relations with the Talibs. Yet the arguments against recognizing the Talibs appear to be even more compelling.

First, you acknowledge that the majority of the people of Afghanistan are opposed to the Taliban forces. Second, the record of human rights abuses, including rape, murder and torture (which were not acknowledged in the editorial but have been documented by Amnesty International) clearly speak against recognizing the Talibs. And the present abuses directed solely against women, including imprisoning them in their homes, closing female schools and whipping them for improper attire, should make us cringe rather than shake their hands.

In addition, as an Afghan-American family with both Christian and Muslim members, we are bewildered by your newspaper’s free use of the word Islamic for actions that clearly are not Islamic. The Taliban’s actions are no more Islamic than the Ku Klux Klan’s actions are Christian. If people are murderers, they should be labeled as such. Don’t allow them to cloak their deeds with a religious title.

CYNTHIA HIGH

Monrovia

* I was concerned about the tone of your article on the Taliban administration of Kabul (Oct. 2). Your frequent references to Iran, America’s nemesis in the Middle East, seemed to imply that the Taliban would shape up to be America’s enemy, while you included a short sentence at the end that the Taliban wanted to be on friendly terms with us.

Your frequent references to the cultural differences between the lifestyle enforced by the Taliban in Afghanistan and ours in the United States seemed to be an attempt to impose our cultural values upon them, which would not work in a society so radically different from ours.

RAY YANG

Los Angeles