For the standards of the Islamists, the way in which they have presented themselves since the conquest of Kabul was almost a charm offensive.

The Afghans were promised safety on the streets.

The Taliban announced that soldiers and government employees had just as little to fear as former local staff from foreign troops or international organizations.

Christian Meier

Editor in politics.

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The Taliban would "not try to take revenge on anyone," said their spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in his first press conference in Kabul on Tuesday.

Women’s right to education is protected, it said, and they could even work for the government.

For advertising purposes, a leading Talib had a woman interview her on television.

The Taliban will be aware that they would not convince the modern, liberal segment of the urban population with these messages.

The aim is more likely to be on the one hand to demonstrate moderation to the outside world.

On the other hand, the Taliban, possibly surprised by the speed of their conquest, wanted to keep the population calm and lull them to safety while they completed the takeover.

First protests against the Islamists

However, the facade of peace and order began to crack more and more over the course of the week. In Kabul and in several other cities, for example, initial displeasure with the Islamists has become publicly apparent. People took to the streets with flags of the Republic of Afghanistan. A sign of national pride, but even more a statement against the Taliban, who have always made it clear that they think little of democracy and who removed Afghan flags after their invasion. Several people were killed when the Taliban cracked down on protesters in the eastern cities of Jalalabad and Asadabad.

At the same time, reports are piling up that expose what the Taliban's promises that nobody had to fear anything from them were probably right from the start: lies and deceit.

The broadcaster Tolo reported on Friday about government employees who disappeared after the Taliban came to power.

Videos are circulating on social networks allegedly showing the execution of the Badghis Province Police Chief;

it remained unclear whether the recordings are authentic.

Lists of former government employees

Amnesty International accused the Taliban of torturing and murdering nine Hazara ethnic groups in Ghazni province in early July. However, this represents only a “tiny part” of the deaths for which the Islamists are responsible in the course of their military advance, wrote the human rights organization.

According to a confidential report for the United Nations that was written by the think tank Norwegian Center for Global Analyzes (RHIPTO) and quoted by several media outlets, the Islamists have drawn up a list of senior officials in the previous government.

"The Taliban are intensifying the hunt for all individuals and employees of the previous regime, and if that is unsuccessful, they target the families, arrest them and punish them according to their own interpretation of Sharia law," the report, dated Wednesday, sums up together.

The names for the lists were compiled before the Taliban conquered the big cities and the places of residence were marked on maps.

Local staff are the target on the way to the airport

All those who held important positions in the military, the police and investigative authorities are therefore particularly at risk. A letter from the Taliban to an alleged former employee of an anti-terrorist agency on Monday is cited as evidence in the RHIPTO report. In it, the man called up for questioning is threatened that if he does not show up, "your family members will be arrested instead, and you are then responsible for it".

According to the report, the Taliban are also intensively looking for “key people” at checkpoints, for example at the airport in Kabul, knowing that such Afghans are more likely to try to leave the country on one of the evacuation flights.

And they recruit informants and contact traders and mosques.

There are also fears that the Taliban will now have access to databases containing information on the population.

Journalists in danger

It is also becoming increasingly clear what threat journalists are exposed to from the new rulers.

Despite all the deficiencies in the state, the freedom of the press in Afghanistan had been comparatively great until recently;

at the same time, journalists were often the target of attacks.

Afghan journalists and non-governmental organizations are now reporting attacks: media workers have been beaten and harassed by the Taliban, and their homes have been searched. Deutsche Welle made a blatant incident public on Thursday: While looking for a journalist from German foreign television, the Taliban shot a family member of the man and seriously injured another.

The TV presenter Shabnam Dawran reported in a video distributed on social networks that she had been banned from returning to her job at the state broadcaster RTA. According to media reports, other female journalists in Kabul were also ordered by the Taliban to stay at home until the Islamists published rules for dealing with women in the workplace. Days before, there had been reports that the Taliban were going from house to house in the country asking people to go back to work.