In actuality, a statement that Vox made in another post provides further context for his view on the Taliban's actions, and further reinforces the obvious conclusion that he was praising the Taliban. "Not only have the proposed benefits (of female education) manifestly failed to manifest themselves, but the opportunity cost of future generations has begun to become readily apparent everywhere from Europe to Asia. One wonders how low birth rates have to fall in civilized countries before the elites begin to realize that the Taliban may not, in fact, be the stupid ones with regards to this particular matter."

Reading this, it becomes clear that Vox wasn't merely saying that the Taliban was strategically justified in trying to intimidate the women of the area into becoming chattel breeders. He was saying that their actions served to better their society,and that western elites were simply behind the curve. Why Vox is unaware of the natural decline in birth rates that occurs as countries transition from developing to developed economies is beyond me.

That Vox would later accuse his detractors of 'taking his quote out of context' changes nothing about what he said, it merely means that he is a coward who is unwilling to either defend or apologize for his statements.

If you really want to argue that Vox was merely randomly commenting about the effectiveness of the Taliban's intimidation tactics, you would have to argue that:

-Vox's diatribe about female education and his paragraph about the Taliban's actions are largely unrelated, and he failed to state that the Taliban's actions were 'merely strategically valid' rather than 'perfectly scientifically justifiable' due to profound ineptitude on his part

-Vox's statement about the Taliban being 'in the right' on the issue of female education and western elites being 'in the wrong' on the issue was written in a drunken stupor

-Vox's other statements (such as one claiming that acid attacks done to discourage women from seeking education are valid from a utilitarian standpoint)are all just jokes.

Even if you make all of these assumptions,there is still a problem with arguing that Vox was merely commenting on the strategic validity of their actions: if he was merely commenting on the strategic validity of their actions AND he actually supported their agenda, he would still be more or less directly supporting the actions! If we are to assume (as ihaveahugepen seems to be assuming ) that the Taliban's agenda is to promote a higher birth rate, then that is a cause that Vox believes in as well!