<p>What has this world come to:<a href="http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110008020%5B/url%5D">http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110008020</a></p>
<p>I cant believe this. I understand cultural diversity but this is helping someone who will turn around and use what he has learned against those who taught him. It is disgusting.</p>
<p>You should read the original article instead of an opinion piece about it. Just a suggestion.</p>
<p>here it is
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/magazine/26taliban.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1%5B/url%5D">http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/magazine/26taliban.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1</a>
It is really long but it is interesting. I would like to talk to him but i doubt he would want to talk to me</p>
<p>Here's the YDN's take on it.</p>
<p>I actually thought it was quite thoughtful... You really need to read the real article on it, the guy seems like a really genuine kind of person. I think it would be highly prejudiced for us to judge on that.. but maybe that's just my take on it.</p>
<p>i agree with sunni. reading the first article makes the whole thing sound downright idiotic of Yale but when you read the real one, the true colors come out and you can see that he is a real person as well.</p>
<p>eh, whatever. there are more extreme americans attending college. unless he held a gun and shot someone, I don't care.</p>
<p>I personally think it's admirable that institutions of higher education in the United States make an effort to open up to leaders of "enemy" nations. The writer of the opinionjournal article annoys me more than the idea of Rahmatullah receiving preferential treatment in admissions--I mean, just because he was part of the Taliban when he was younger automatically makes him an immediate threat? It's not his fault he grew up in a violent area, and in fact the original article states that he and his classmates were teased as "puppets of the Americans."</p>
<p>Now, Yale has a chance to counteract some of that brainwashing. He's taking a class about terrorism that would presumably alter his perspective on things. Then he can take Western ideas back and assimilate them much more effectively than our boys with guns are right now.</p>
<p>yea...i dont. this dude attempted to explain the actions of the Taliban after 9/11, acting as a sort of press secretary for them...and now he gets to go to Yale.</p>
<p>thats ridiculous.</p>
<p>I don't remember reading anywhere in the article that he attempted to explain Taliban's actions after 9/11. I could be mistaken, and in that case would appreciate a correction. Furthermore, I don't truly see what the Taliban had to explain after 9/11 that they didn't have to before... You may be making a confused connection between the Taliban and the people involved in the WTC attacks, but even though a few of the terrorists involved in the catastrophe were Afghani, the Taliban was never directly tied to it... no more than Morocco. The Taliban was a terrible governmental administration for people who had nothing else. The bombing of Afghanistan after 9/11 was more of a case of 'strike while the iron is hot'. So, to me it's not so ridiculous.</p>
<p>I was initially outraged. Then I was amused. And now I think it's sort of cool. </p>
<p>It definitely helps to read the NYTimes to get a more objective understanding.</p>
<p>guys read the original article. it talks about why he got involved with the taliban etc etc. a great majority of us would have done the same thing.</p>
<p>I'm so glad this is turning into a good discussion instead of just "OH stupid yale" based on one person's opinion article. I recently read a book called Kite Runner about a boy who grew up in Afghanistan, and based on that and on the NYTimes article, I think it's really important to remember that when it was first formed the Taliban was seen as a good thing (helping restore Afghanistan after Soviet control, etc.) I think it's one of those governments that got corrupt and extremist really fast, and i think it's really important for people (especially americans) to understand that there are good and bad people in any group, any "side" of the conflict. We can't just categorize.</p>
<p>To add on, basically the Afghani people had two options; Taliban or mayhem. They chose Taliban. I've done extensive research on this for my history class, like sunninights said, nothing is cut and dry.</p>
<p>further, he seems to have assimilated quite well into the Yale culture. I dont think anybody really looks at him as an "enemy" as much as they do a classmate. As per the preferential treatment, who knows, but I know I'd be glad to have such a unique person in class.</p>
<p>This story even made the newspapers in the Netherlands!!!!!!!</p>
<p>:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) </p>
<p>Sooooo cool to read the name of your dream college in your local newspaper.... that doesn't happen to me very often!!!!</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>you guys must be not smart cause you are getting manipulated by the article.</p>
<p>taleban = enemy. of course he's not going to be like 'i hate you'. that's after he's gone. :)</p>
<p>amnesia, you're making fun, right?</p>
<p>I haven't read the full times article and may not. The gross abuses of the Taliban should have ruled this guy out from the start. There are tons of great students who will be turned down; they should have admitted any one of them in preference to this guy.</p>