US policymakers accepted Taliban-style dictatorship as a tolerable analogue to Saudi Arabia.

Evidence

One US diplomat expressed the logic and the underlying lack of regard for women’s rights: “Taliban will develop like the Saudis did. There will be Aramco, pipelines, an emir, no parliament and lots of Sharia law. We can live with that.” — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 1136

Categorization

• XREF: Directly corroborates the vault cluster on Islamophobia as imperial policy — aligns with Razack/Rana claims that US concern over Taliban treatment of women was instrumental, contradicted by realpolitik tolerance. — connects to: US officials in the 1990s accepted Taliban rule as a workable Saudi-style partner — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 1153; US officials accepted anti-democratic Taliban rule as geopolitically workable; US officials expected Afghanistan under Taliban rule to mirror Saudi subordination — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 1153
• ADDENDUM: Supports the ‘immodesty’ moral-panic cluster by showing US policy cynically subordinated women’s rights when strategically convenient.

Broader Connections

• US officials in the 1990s accepted Taliban rule as a workable Saudi-style partner #corroborates (0.95) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 1153
• US officials accepted anti-democratic Taliban rule as geopolitically workable #corroborates (0.92)
• US officials expected Afghanistan under Taliban rule to mirror Saudi subordination #corroborates (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 1153