How does a country normalize relations with an abnormal regime? This will be the topic in Islamabad as Pakistan hosts the latest round of “Troika Plus” talks between America, Communist China, and Russia over responses to Taliban rule in Afghanistan. President Biden’s special representative, Thomas West, is insisting that “the Taliban have voiced very clearly and openly their desire to normalize relations with the international community” but that the United States cannot deliver this on its own.

Why in the world would it want to — on its own or otherwise? Mr. West says America must “consult with our likeminded allies on exactly what the roadmap looks like” to bring the Taliban into the international fold. Yet that would be a new experience for the blood-thirsty Taliban. Their government in the 1990s was only recognized diplomatically by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan. And it didn’t deserve even that.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, is trying to palm off on the civilized world the idea that their new government has a right to recognition — or else. “Our message to America,” he threatens, “is, if unrecognition continues, Afghan problems continue, it is the problem of the region and could turn into a problem for the world.” Afghanistan last became a “problem for the world” when the Taliban emirate hosted Osama bin Laden and allowed him to build a terrorist network with global reach. After 9/11, America, in its righteous might, then became a problem for the Taliban.

How does it follow from this history that any logic lies in granting legitimacy to what is still an Islamist tyranny? Seizing power by force does not meet international standards for a legitimate claim to rule. Even Iran recognizes the Taliban “have no choice but to stop previous extremist policies and adopt moderate approaches.” When a group is too extreme for the fanatical camarilla that runs Tehran, that’s saying something.

In August when the Biden administration abandoned the former Afghan government to its fate, there was some talk of the Taliban having changed their ways and become kinder and gentler. Yet scant evidence exists that this narrative was anything more than deceptive propaganda. Atrocities have been commonplace since then. A humanitarian group warns of an emerging “hell on Earth.” Last week a 29-year-old women’s activist, Frozan Safi, was slain in northern Afghanistan.

Safi’s sister Rita is quoted by the Guardian as saying that they could identify the body only through her clothes because “bullets had destroyed her face.” Women’s groups are being systematically hunted down, their members detained, beaten, and tortured. This week the interim government established a military tribunal to enforce Islamic law. Supreme leader Hebatullah Akhundzada ordered the tribunal to enforce the “Sharia system, divine decrees, and social reform.”

It is unlikely that we will see such tribunals enforcing edicts seeking diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Afghan Islamic Emirate. Talks with Russia and Communist China are unlikely to produce favorable outcomes for American interests, which, in any event, do not include “normal” relations with the Taliban. And at the slightest hint that the Taliban intend to harm Americans still in Afghanistan the thing for Mr. Biden to do is remember Teddy Roosevelt’s warning to the bandit Raisuli.