Well, it is a take on it, but I don't think he understands "why" they hate the US and how building schools and so on would do nothing to help. I'm no expert but IIRC the Taliban aren't really hot on education, womens rights or anything like that, and the US coming in and playing the big helpful brother and giving the afgan people the things they need isn't going to make them (the taliban, the ones who are apparently responsible for this)any happier. The Afgans will love it I'm sure, but not the ones who aren't starving in the streets.

The point being, however, if you take away the means of oppression for this kind of government (poverty, ignorance, dependance on the state for basic necessities), you take away the power of that kind of government.

A populace that has proper education and provisions is far less likely to allow an oppressive regime to continue operating.

The point isn't to make the Taliban happier, but to give the people who have no choice but to be ruled by them a better choice.

And the dude's point is pointless. Hmm, I know let's solve all the worlds problems with education. Great I'm all for it, now how are you going to do that?

Andrew at hoshq couldn't reply earlier... here's his comments, found on his website...

I hate it when I try to post a response on someone's webpage and it fails because of a server error. Especially when the discussion is about me. If I could post, my response would be: "No, I do understand why they hate the US. It has less to do with religion than most people think. The real reason is that the US oppresses these poor countries, by exploiting their resources and labour."
4:36 PM