Who are the Taliban today and what will they do next in Afghanistan

“They're not state builders. They've never been people who are preoccupied with general policy concerns such as health, education, social security,” ANU Emeritus Professor William Maley says.

“They have an image of a pure state, and their image of a pure state is not a welfare state, it's a state in which people obey their dictates, which, in turn, are a product of their particular twisted version of Islam.” 

Beyond that, analysts expect them to govern much as they did during their first stint in power.

“The Taliban were able to put into place ministries - ministry of interior, they had police, they had taxation - and there was reasonable compliance with that because they were so brutal,” Professor Fair says.

“What the Taliban did in their first tenure was that they simply co-opted militias to work for them, so I suspect that we’re going to see a similar set of practices. They’re not coming into a vacuum.” 

Have they changed in the past 20 years? 

The Taliban have repeatedly claimed they have reformed many of their draconian policies of the late 1990s, particularly those concerning women.

"We don't want any internal or external enemies," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Wednesday in the group’s first press conference in 20 years.

He went on to say women would be allowed to work and study and "will be very active in society, but within the framework of Islam”.

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