KABUL – They are back, but they say they have changed. After twenty years, the Taliban regained power in Kabul and with them the terror they had left behind returned: violence, summary executions, repression of all freedom, women forced to wear the burqa and women’s schools closed, sports and music bandits. But “now we are different”, they say. And they try to prove it.

Today, after the proclamation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the same name as the previous regime from 1996 to 2001), they announced amnesty for all state officials, the will to negotiate with other politicians to form a new “inclusive government”, the opening of the executive to women “but in compliance with the rules of Sharia (the Islamic law), said a spokesman for the Taliban, Enamullah Samangani. Women, wearing the hijia, will also be able to access education, including university, as another spokesperson – Suhail Shaheen – promised.

Afghan women seem to have already accepted the challenge. Absent on the main Afghan channels since Sunday, the day of Kabul’s surrender to the Taliban, they are back on the air. “Today we resumed our broadcasts with the presenters”, Miraqa Popal, head of the Afghan television station Tolonews, wrote today in a tweet, publishing a photo of a journalist with a veil (in the pic above). Then another tweet: “Our presenter is interviewing a Taliban media representative live in our studios”.

“We are committed to women’s rights within the Sharia. We will work side by side with us. There will be no discrimination” said another spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, at a press conference today. “Nobody will be harmed, we don’t want to have problems with the international community which” he added, explaining however internationally that “we have the right to act according to our religious principles. Other countries have different approaches and regulations and Afghans have the right to have the property rules in accordance with our values ​​”.

In the meantime, however, the assault continued on the Kabul airport where thousands of people have gathered in the last two days and decided to get on any plane to leave the country. Even at the cost of their lives, as witnessed by the dramatic videos released on social media on Monday, such as that of the two men who fell into the void after clinging to a plane taking off from Kabul airport. Today, the Washington Post reported a new victim of the desperate flight of many Afghan civilians: the body of a man was found in the landing gear of an American C-17 transport plane.

Another C-17 took off with 640 refugees crammed on board, bringing them to safety in Qatar: an impressive image (here below) published on the website and on the Twitter profile of the Defense One agency, with men, women, elderly and children crammed into the plane in the which they got on entering through the tailgate of the aircraft. “Instead of having the military intervene to get out the people who were supposed to be aboard the C-17, the crew decided to leave”, also reports Defense One, underlining that it was the largest number of people ever transported by this type of aircraft. And the exodus continues.