From a literary point of view, the Taliban could be likened to other hateful organizations like the Nazi party or the Ku Klux Klan. In all those three, the community rallies around disgust. Now, because of the psychological principle of "group think," the community can support itself, provoking each other to more extreme points of view until as a group, they are so full of rage that they become willing to execute their hatred in real life.
By committing murders and acts of terror in the name of God, these hateful bigots also clarify another fear in the community. Perhaps when bad things happen, that is God punishing us. Isn't that what terrorism implies? Therefore, terrorism represents a kind of hateful religious judgment, because the anger is so wrathful and inflamed that they wrongly believe they are perfectly correct.
One could liken this state of rage to the human mode of warfare. A man in the battlefield might run and scream and murder, and it would not be beneficial for them to wonder while this is happening whether they should slow down and reconsider; that might cause their death if they are being shot at or something. So, these terrorists can be thought of as "at war." But who is their war really against? Who are they really trying to punish by committing murders? Thus, we see the central irony of this novel: The terrorists are primarily hateful of the God they presume to serve, because they are taking life out of the reality which they profess openly that he created. By killing humans, they have taken their stance against life and whoever created it.
