The Taliban seem to have changed their skin and are trying to reassure the international community of their good intentions to manage human rights in a balanced way.
Even if this new attitude, made up of activities on social networks and more or less reassuring words in the press conferences of their spokesperson these days, tries to give a reassuring image of their next modus operandi, the reality of their actions does not seem to be much coherent.
Unfortunately, to understand where this new attitude comes from, we need to go back to their failure that began in 1996.
At that time the “students of the Koran” had finished the conquest of Afghanistan. And immediately they found themselves face to face, in the province of Nangarhar, with a group of Arabs who had arrived from Sudan.
The Taliban imposed an oath of allegiance on all armed groups in Afghanistan.
Osama Bin Laden swore allegiance to Mullah Omar and tried to help him defeat the resistance of Commander Masud. Bin Laden shot Massoud to death and at the same time prepared for the 9/11 attacks. This decision led to the reaction of the United States which not only destroyed Bin Laden but with it all the Taliban forced to flee.
Since that failure, the Taliban have understood that in order to govern they must absolutely give security guarantees not only to the West, but also to Russia, China and Iran.
Their goal is to be entitled to govern Afghanistan in compliance with international treaties and to be able to receive aid to restart the economy.
However, they ask, and it is no small thing, to be able to impose the Sharia law.
They also want to convince the international community that they have never carried out terrorist activities abroad even if, in truth, they have never really cut ties with members of Al Qaeda and Isis. However, this is still an opaque position which, the latest disastrous attack on Kabu airport, has certainly not made clearer.
In any case, today Al Qaeda seems to have a rather reduced potential for terrorist actions compared to the past, while the real danger seems to be Isis.
ISIS groups in Afghanistan, widespread in the provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar, born from a split with the Taliban, have contested negotiations with the Americans and use the same methods as ISIS in the rest of the world with indiscriminate suicide attacks.
They believe that the current Taliban are traitors and propose to continue the fight without giving up even against them. Not only Afghanistan but also Syria and Mali are targeted.
So, as he has already anticipated from American Intelligence, we must expect an escalation of terrorism from Isis.
But this time the ISIS cutthroats will have against not only the entire international community with America in the lead but also the Taliban who this time cannot seem conniving with those who have made terrorism a reason for living.
At stake is the possibility of governing Afghanistan in a more or less legitimate way.