Taliban seek image makeover as Afghan peace talks gain momentum

As moves towards peace pick up in Afghanistan, the Taliban are trying to show they have changed since the brutal days of the 1990s when they banned music and girls' education and carried out public executions in Kabul's football stadium.
"If peace comes and the Taliban return, then our return will not be in the same harsh way as it was in 1996," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told Reuters, referring to the year they took over in Kabul before their ouster by US-led troops in 2001.
"We want to assure Afghan nationals that there will be no threat to anyone from our side."
The comments come as moves towards peace negotiations have intensified, following a series of meetings between US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban representatives over the past three months.
Expectations of a decisive shift have been heightened by reports that more than 5,000 US troops may be withdrawn from Afghanistan, in an abrupt about-turn from the previous US strategy of stepping up military pressure on the insurgents.
"Our opposition is with the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan. Once they are out and a peace deal is reached, then a nationwide amnesty will be announced," said Mujahid.
"No one, police, army, government employees or anyone, will face revenge behaviour from our side."
Reports of the withdrawal are unconfirmed but they have triggered alarm among many Afghans with bitter memories of the Taliban's ultra-hardline regime.
"I don't think their mindset has changed but they have realised that without respecting human rights, they cannot be accepted by the international community," said Bilal Sediqi, spokesman for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
With Afghanistan likely to remain dependent on foreign aid for years, the Taliban know they cannot return to the past when fighters swept into Kabul after the chaos of the 1990s civil war.
But they insist that as well as the withdrawal of foreign forces, there will be a return to their strict version of Islamic rule and many Afghans doubt their claims to have softened, even while yearning for an end to the war.
In June, Taliban leaders were angry at their fighters swapping selfies with soldiers and government officials and eating ice cream with civilians during a three-day ceasefire. Soon afterwards, they launched complex attacks on strategic provinces to try to oust Afghan forces and used civilians as human shields.