The defeat of the Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan until 2001, “is a victory for Islam, and the religious extremism in the Arab world is because of the creation of Israel in 1948,” said late novelist Naguib Mahfouz in an old interview. Talal Faisal translated this interview, which was originally conducted by Pierre Parpant after the September 11 terrorist attacks. New Culture Magazine in Cairo will republish the interview today. Mahfouz, the only Arabic author to have received the Nobel Prize for Literature (1988), was the victim of an assassination attempt after the publication of his novel “Awlad Haretna.” “The U.S. is biased toward Israel,” Mahfouz said while criticizing U.S. foreign policy in the interview.