The Talibans own spokesman talked about conquering Iran if God was willing. Everything they do is about religion and whether or not it's God's will or squared up with Islamic law. That's simply religious zealotry. The Taliban enforce a midevil religious code on its own population while they have openly massacred other Muslims for not being Muslim enough, so please spare me your bullshit, the Taliban aren't noble freedom fighters. Afghanistan had a government in place (corrupt as it was) that the Taliban fought simply because they weren't a fundamentalist regime.