In February 1997, 1997, as scientists announced the successful cloning of Dolly the sheep and

UN sanctions drove Iraq to the brink of collapse,

someone in the State Department boiled a pot of tea

for a certain foreign delegation.

Washington's guests that day were representatives from the Taliban, the new Islamic rulers of Afghanistan.

The Taliban envoys were in town to discuss a promising and mutually beneficial plan

for building a pipeline through their country, courtesy of the California Petroleum

Giant Unocal.

Though the meeting with State went fine, this was a delicate situation.

Women's rights groups had been protesting the Liberal Clinton administration's

rather cordial relations with the Taliban, whose government, after all, had eradicated

most traces of political, civil, and social rights for women,

and imposed one of the most draconian patriarchies on the planet.

Shortly after the meeting, a pack of journalists challenged a senior U.S. diplomat, who explained

the U.S. position on the Taliban.

Quote, the Taliban will probably develop like the Saudis did.

There will be pipelines, an Emir, no parliament, and lots of Sharia law.

We can live with that.

I can live with that.

I can live with that.

I can live with that.

I can live with that.

...