"Suppose we then gave the informationto the Taliban, and demanded extradition or its close analogue, whatever you do when there isn't a formal treaty. No threats of further attack, just a firm but polite request, one sovereign nation to another."
What sovereign nation? The Taliban, that piratical gang, is not an internationally recognized government (unless you count the Saudi royalty and the Pakistani secret police as speaking for you). But Afghanistan has an internationally recognized government, accepted as such by the United Nations as well, and controlling a substantial part of its national territory (however deplorable the record of its soldiers from 1978 to 1995). The legal status of pirates, under customary international law, is that of enemies of the human race. It is not only the right but even the duty, of every power (even those who until now have tolerated and even aided those pirates) to crush them (and not to seek a deal with the "moderate" pirates among them).
Shane Mage
Écrasez l'infâme!