Taliban - What is the Appeal?

I was reading where the Taliban has made great inroads in the Swat Valley of north-western Pakistan to the extent that the local officials are going to give into their demands for using a much stricter interpretation of Islamic law. The Taliban got their point across by destroying girls schools, beheading those not in agreement and basically terrorizing the valley. They evidently won.

What I fail to understand is why the people would agree to this? I admit that I am not an Islamic scholar but I do know a little history. I know that there was a time when Islamic scholars lead the world in science and medicine and that the great Islamic learning centers in Spain, North Africa and parts of the Middle East were the envy of the world.

Then something happened. It appears that Islamic thinking fell into some kind of dark age and they have never recovered. How could any modern thinker agree with the Taliban? Women with no rights, treated worse than animals? No culture, no music, no free thought. Its very reminiscent of Pol Pot in Cambodia during the '70s, when he believed everyone should be on the farm guarded by an AK47.

Where are the modern Islamic thinkers? Why are there no voices protesting the Taliban's negative interpretation of the Koran? Surely there are those in the Islamic world who want to stand up and say the Taliban does not represent how the prophet wants them to live and treat others.

I will appreciate any insight into Islamic law that someone can share. I know their are different sects within Islam, based on history and religious interpretation of the Koran, I just do not understand why anyone would support the Taliban's interpretation of the Koran and their desire to take the people back into the Dark Ages.

If we in America are going to be able to help the citizens of Afghanistan and Pakistan who want to live their lives and religions as they see fit, then we have to understand the mentality of the Taliban so that we will be able to defeat them not on the battlefield with rifles, but in the intellectual, philosophical, and spiritual inner being that truly define who we are.

Its Common Sense!