Distrust persists as some Afghan women return to work

Under their previous reign, they shocked the world by brutally oppressing women and girls. Now, back in power 20 years after a US invasion ousted them, the Taliban have promised a softer brand of rule, pledging that women will be allowed to work.

Some women, particularly those in the health and education sectors, say they have continued to go to work in the weeks since the Islamist militants took over Kabul on August 15, following a lightning offensive that culminated days ahead of the US pullout.

Under the Taliban's former regime, women were not officially barred from all professions.  But by professing to rule within the limits of sharia, the Taliban made it very difficult in practice for them to access most jobs.

Last week, Doha-based Taliban spokesman Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai told reporters that women had an "innate right" to work, study and participate in politics. But he also told BBC Pashto in an interview that there "may not" be a place for women in the cabinet of any future government or any other top post.

The movement's acting higher education minister has said women will be allowed to study at university -- but that there will be a ban on mixed classes. But gender separation remained the norm in many Afghans' lives even under the former government, with girls and boys segregated in primary and secondary schools.

Yesterday, an Afghan morning show on the country's leading television channel, TOLO TV, has resumed broadcasting – with a female host – according to a company executive.

For now, women have little choice but to wait and see what the Taliban will do once they form a government and start to rule.

A female English teacher at a Kabul high school, who teaches boys, said: "I don't know what they will allow me to do."