Afghanistan is hit by brain drain as the ‘best and brightest’flee Taliban rule. (Los Angeles Times)

The re-emergence of Taliban rule has triggered the departure of thousands of highly skilled Afghans from what is already one of the world’s most under-developed nations.

As the insurgents continue to tighten their grip, people with “a wealth of skills and experience” are “joining a brain drain of such grave proportions that even the Taliban, faced with running one of the world’s poorest countries, has taken notice with dismay”, the Los Angeles Times commented.

My comment: The Taliban is an illustration of the downside of using a religion as a blueprint for modern governance. If you choose to employ medieval religious ideology as a framework for “modern” government, what do you expect? Now were they introducing the precepts of Epicureanism they might be surprised at the positive reaction of the people. Religion should be a personal matter.