of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. United Nations and NGOs Despite the aid of United Nations (UN) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) given (see § Afghanistan during Taliban rule), the Taliban's attitude in 1996–2001 toward the UN and NGOs was often one of suspicion. The UN did not recognise the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, most foreign donors and aid workers were non-Muslims, and the Taliban vented fundamental objections to the sort of 'help' the UN offered. As the Taliban's Attorney General Maulvi Jalil-ullah Maulvizada put it in 1997: In July 1998, the Taliban closed "all NGO offices" by force after those organisations refused to move to a bombed-out former Polytechnic College as ordered. One month later the UN offices were also shut down. Around 2000, the UN drew up sanctions against officials and leaders of Taliban, because of their harbouring Osama bin Laden. Several of the Taliban leaders have subsequently been killed. In 2009, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband and US Secretary Hillary Clinton called for talks with 'regular Taliban fighters' while bypassing their top leaders who supposedly were 'committed to global jihad'. Kai Eide, the top UN official in Afghanistan, called for talks with Taliban at the highest level, suggesting Mullah Omar—even though Omar dismissed such overtures as long as foreign troops were in Afghanistan. In 2010, the UN lifted sanctions on the Taliban, and requested that Taliban leaders and others be removed from terrorism watch lists. In 2010 the US and Europe announced support for President Karzai's latest attempt to negotiate peace with the Taliban. In popular media The Taliban were portrayed in Khaled Hosseini's popular 2003 novel The Kite Runner and its 2007 film adaption. The Taliban have also been portrayed in American film, most notably in Lone Survivor (2013) which is based on a real-life story. Hindi cinema have also portrayed the Taliban in Kabul Express (2006), and Escape from Taliban (2003) which is based on a real-life novel A Kabuliwala's Bengali Wife, whose author Sushmita Banerjee was shot dead by the Taliban in 2013. Notes References Bibliography Further reading One Year of Taliban Rule Over Afghanistan "Afghan Women and the Taliban: An Exploratory Assessment" (International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague 2014) External links Anti-Shi'ism Anti-Hindu sentiment Anti-LGBT sentiment Anti-Buddhism Anti-Christian sentiment in Asia Axis of Resistance Antisemitism in Asia Anti-Zionism in Asia Deobandi organisations Far-right politics in Afghanistan Government of Afghanistan Groups affiliated with