Talk about crossing borders

I don’t know if anyone caught the article in the NYTimes magazine a couple weeks ago, but the former spokesman for the Taliban is now a Yale undergraduate. You now have to pay to get a copy of the article on the NYTimes site (but I saved a copy of the article, so I can email it to those interested in reading more), but you can read a brief piece about it from the Hartford Courant here.

I understand Yale’s decision to let him in. If we can get someone like that to understand our way of thinking, while at the same time learning how ideologies espoused by radicals like the Taliban are so popular, maybe we can prevent coming to a point where violence is seen to be an option. It’s a test for the West and America: and if we succeed, Rahmatullah Hashemi will be a great “cultural ambassador” to those who we most need to reach.