Eat your heart out Larry Summers. You should have hired this guy as your media consultant and you could still be working at Harvard. In 2001, Laurence H. Summers was working at Harvard University and Rehmatullah Hashmi was working for the Taliban in Afghanistan. Fast forward to 2006 and Larry Summers is out of a job because of his so-called insensitivity to women and Rehmatullah Hashmi is at Yale University. (“An Aspirin for Larry Summers”)
Life in Afghanistan 2001 | A Taliban official
Taliban official Rehmatullah Hashmi, from the Taliban’s foreign ministry, shows a book conficsated from the International Assistance Mission, IAM. Eight foreign aid workers have been arrested and are on trial on charges of preaching Christianity.
New York Times. September 7, 2001. p. A1.
Afghans Present Aid Team’s Sins, Complete With Theology Lesson By BARRY BEARAK, ABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 6
The news conference came on the third day of closed-door court proceedings for eight foreign aid workers accused of preaching Christianity, a crime that the Taliban have suggested may bring them the death penalty. Mr. Muttawakil used the news conference to display what he called more evidence of Christian evangelism: confiscated Bibles in local languages, audio tapes and videos.
“O.K., turn it on,” said Rehmatullah Hashmi, a foreign ministry official. A television set — itself a forbidden thing — brightened into life. A movie called “Jesus” appeared, its narrator extolling “the good news of the Virgin Mother and the Savior’s birth.” Soon, a young Jesus was on screen asking precocious questions of startled rabbis.
“That’s enough,” said Mr. Hashmi, who tried some levity to accompany the grave accusations. “We have to put it off. Otherwise, we will also be proselytizing.”
He then held up various items, including a children’s book with Bible lessons on flash cards. “These books say Jesus Christ was the son of God,” Mr. Hashmi patiently explained. “We don’t believe this. We believe Jesus was a prophet but not the son of God.”
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