A roadside bomb planted by Taliban terrorists killed four U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan on Sunday. In a separate incident suicide bombers tried to kill an Afghan official responsible for persuading former Taliban members to support the new government. The official survived but the blast killed the two bombers along with a 12-year-old girl and an elderly man selling yogurt on the street.
The Taliban, the medieval fascist regime that harbored Osama bin Laden before 9/11, may be history. But its remnants are still at war with America. That's why it's even more inexplicable that Yale University has admitted Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, the former deputy foreign minister of the Taliban regime, as a student and given him a 35% to 40% discount on tuition. Despite repeated requests by me and other reporters, Yale will not respond to questions about this beyond a 144-word vague statement. At the same time, one of its officials sent out an anonymous e-mail attacking critics of its Taliban student as "retarded" and "disgusting." Liberal Yale alumni, such as former Yale College Democrats official Christina Bost Seaton, are starting to become upset and are complaining to Yale.
Shouldn't all of us be upset that the Bush State Department issued Mr. Rahmatullah a student visa (it's not talking either but will eventually have to respond to Congressional inquiries) or that Yale refuses to answer questions about his admission to one of America's most prestigious universities?