Is the Taliban Inherently Evil?

I attended Khaled Hosseini's lecture/interview at UB last night. It was very interestng, and Khaled came off as a down to earth guy. One thing that I found fault with however, was his defense of the Taliban. When asked if the Taliban was inherently evil, he said "No," saying that thier motives were practical, and while they have done evil things, they were not necessarily evil. If I could have posed a question to Khaled, I would have asked him, "Has the Taliban ever done anything good?" Maybe, but I've never heard of it. Adolf Hitler took power and began his blitzkrieg because he wanted Germany to be restored to its former glory. Still, no one can deny (Ahmedinejad excepted) that Hitler was evil. Therefore, the motives of a person do not decide whether their actions are evil, their actions do. This can be magnified to apply to a group of people as well. The Taliban may not do what they do out of a desire to hurt people (though many of them do, as Khaled admitted) but their decision to hurt people and to cause misery does make them evil.
Is it their religion that calls for them to do this? No. But do they believe that it does? Sometimes. Many would say then that I cannot question them or call them evil, because they do it out of a dedication to "Allah". To quote Mark Twain, "Loyalty to petrified opinion never broke a chain or freed a human soul."

Strong Arm Tactics from Obama Campaign

The Obama campaign has been making headlines lately-but not for political reasons. "Fraud" is not a word that one would normally associate with Barack Obama's campaign, however, it's coming up in relation to him more an more frequently. First, Tony Rezko, personal friend of Obama's, was convicted of fraud. Then there's the ACORN buisness. And finally and most shockingly is the stroy of the Kansas City couple, both McCain supporters, who found a mysterious $2300 credit card charge listed as a donation to the Obama campaign on their bill.