The mugging I mentioned absolutely could not have been at the hands of anyone associated with the Taliban. It happened when I was 9 and my family and I were in Moscow. 3 Afghan diplomats befriended my dad. My dad told my mom, brother and me to wait for him and the 3 Afghanis at the restaurant inside the hotel. When it took longer than expected for my dad and his 'guests' to show up, I ran up the stairs to our room to look for him. Finding only the empty hotel room, I went - purely by chance - another way. I heard my dad screaming, "You gonna take my watch, you bastards? Like hell you are!" and some scuffling behind another room's door (aparently the Afghani's door). I banged on the door to no avail, then ran downstairs and hollered (in almost perfect Russian, mind you) to the KGB agents assigned to follow us, "Help! My father is an American and he is in trouble! Follow me!" (Aside: I'd tried to convince my mom at the restaurant of my dad's plight, but she insisted I must have misunderstood. That's when I jumped up on the table and began yelling at the KGB agents - they followed us everywhere and stuck out like a sore thumb). The KGB followed me and rescued my dad. All this happened in 1969, well before Osama, or the Taliban existed. I mentioned it in my original post only to underscore that my judgement was completely clouded with personal andecdotes of real or perceived wrongs.

Thanks Bill,
Mikem