Much progress has been made in the world with one simple understanding within and between nations, particularly ours. You have the right to practice your religion and attempt to persuade others to practice it, too. You do not have the right to impose the practice of your religion on others. Where the understanding is practiced, peace and prosperity is much more likely. Where the understanding is ignored war and poverty are more likely to prevail.

So the recent news from Pakistan the Taliban has now occupied territory some 60 miles from the capital is particularly worrisome. So far fighting Al Qaeda has meant fighting a stateless entity without the capability of power projection or access to nuclear weapons. If Pakistan falls to the Taliban, then suddenly we will face a new nation state hostile to us. Further this new enemy likely lacks the scruples necessary to keep the nuclear weapons they already have from falling into the hands of someone like Al Qaeda.

Reading the news caused me to think again about this question. How do you fight religious zealots? You can try to reason with them and attempt to persuade them to abide with the live and let live understanding described above. You can offer them their own little spot in the world to live according to their beliefs and then turn a blind eye to what goes on there. You can keep talking with them and demonstrating with them in hopes they will convert to your own approach to life.

But what if none of those things work?

What if dealing with the zealots is like being the target of a shark in the middle of the ocean? The shark is irrational. The shark doesn’t know it’s supposed to only eat other fish. The shark just sees you and thinks lunch. In a case like that, you basically have three choices. You can be lunch, you can run or you can fight.

In this case, (seeing the shark as the Taliban), the shark is not fixated on us. The shark is fixated on another swimmer, i.e. the Pakistani government. Still, we have concerns. Once the shark eats their immediate target, could we become the shark’s next intended meal?

And so we need a way to help the swimmer by either . . .

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