The Taliban did not plan or launch any of the terrorist attacks. They provided a base and a refuge.

It's rather like being accomplices before and after the fact when someone gives shelter to a criminal both when planning the crime and then after it's been committed.

They did do that because of a loathing for the West based in their religious beliefs, but the Taliban's terrorist activities are carried out against their own people, as well as against any of our people who happen to be inside their borders. They have a short reach.

Religious fervor is merely the most recent motivating force of the parochial, authoritarian tribal organization that marks Afghani politics. If you think back to the Soviet era, you'll remember that the civil authorities rolled over on their backs and cooperated when the Soviets decided to occupy their country. The Taliban freedom fighters, who were fiercely religious and therefore at odds with the Soviets, who recognized no religions, were the only ones left to fight the Soviets. When they won, due to our help and the Soviet Union's inner turmoil, they thought God was responsible. So they began to bring their fellow citizens to God in gratitude, sometimes saving them by flogging and execution.

And then this bin Laden guy and his friends came along, claiming that God had ideas for them...