Sir, that is also a very important and difficult question. If there were an easy answer to it, I would not be here and you would not be here.
But let me say that I think there is a difference. I think the presence of western troops “in occupation”—and that is the term that is used by most Muslims—of their country creates a radicalizing element that encourages other radical forces. It encourages jihadis to come in from all over the world to fight, especially against the American presence there, which is being fought in country after country on a military basis.
I am arguing first that the Taliban, to the extent that we can generalize about them, because there are different trends among them—they're all Pashtun, they're all nationalists, they're all believers in Islam to one degree or another—have learned a few things in a generation as well, watching this terrible debacle. Even the old Taliban were uncomfortable with bin Laden, when he first arrived there, but found themselves gradually trapped in a situation in which they came to depend on him. I don't think the situation could be replicated in quite the same sense.
So I would argue that the Taliban have learned something, the Pashtun have learned something, and I think the Pakistanis themselves have learned about the dangers of losing control of even elements that they supported, as they did earlier.
If it is known that the west is leaving and mechanisms are put into place with regional power support—from Russia, Iran, China, India, others, the UN—to essentially try to re-establish a government in which Taliban may win an important voice, it is the kind of Taliban and the kinds of policies they will pursue that will matter most.
I don't think we would go back to school burnings, but a conservative country, a conservative social policy, a conservative policy towards women that I do not approve of? Yes, I think we would see some return, but I don't think it would be a return to the rather horrific and sometimes exaggerated examples of the worst of the Taliban and their methods now, which are seen as part of their anti-American struggle.