As their fighters advanced to the outskirts of Kabul on Sunday, the Taliban strove to present themselves as a moderate, disciplined force.

Afghan army soldiers should go home unmolested, the extremists announced.

Foreigners could leave the city or register with the Taliban's "administration".

Their own fighters are not allowed to celebrate their triumph with gun salvos in the air.

They had been instructed to stand by on the access roads to Kabul “until a peaceful and satisfactory transfer of power was agreed”.

Friederike Böge

Political correspondent for China, North Korea and Mongolia.

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Emergency aid organizations as well as the airport and hospital could continue their work unhindered, said the Taliban.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on the BBC that the residents of Kabul were assured that there would be "no acts of revenge against anyone."

However, many Kabulists did not trust the Islamists' words and tried desperately to get to the airport or other ways out of the city.

Cruel reports from provincial capitals

Cruel videos and reports reached Kabul from the provincial capitals that the Taliban had conquered in the past few days. There was talk of murders, lashes and severed hands. In one case it was said that a woman was shot dead in the street for not dressing properly. Such reports are difficult to verify. The rumor that the Taliban were forcibly marrying young women to their fighters caused a lot of unrest. A corresponding decree that was circulated on the Internet was apparently forged. In any case, the videos and rumors spread fear and horror.

One can surmise that this was precisely the aim, in order to weaken the morale of the enemy and the trust of the population in the government.

In addition, the past few years, in which the Taliban already controlled many areas, have shown that this is a heterogeneous movement that acts differently depending on the region.

That seems to be the case now too: In Kunduz, the Taliban called on international aid organizations to continue their work.

According to an eyewitness, the frightened employees were issued permits to allow them to enter the office.

Is the willingness to negotiate just a pretext?

The question is: what does an Afghanistan look like that is governed by the Taliban? If one takes the time of the Islamic Emirates from 1996 to 2001 as the yardstick, then dark times will dawn for women and girls, but also for journalists, human rights activists and the Shiite minority of the Hazara. At that time, women were only allowed to move in public with a male companion and were only allowed to exercise a few selected professions. Political participation for women, as guaranteed by the constitution in parliament in Afghanistan today, was unthinkable at the time. Girls were not allowed to go to school. Suspected adulterers were stoned. Virtue guards patrolled the streets. Music and films were forbidden. Even then, however, there were various factions under the Taliban and regional attempts toTo enable education for girls.