The Taliban hoisted a huge white flag of their movement on Thursday, March 31, at the top of a hill overlooking the capital Kabul, during a ceremony organized nearly eight months after their seizure of power in Afghanistan.
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Several hundred Taliban, many of them armed, attended the ceremony presided over by the 2nd Deputy Prime Minister, Abdul Salam Hanafi, on the hill of Wazir Akbar Khan, in the north of the city, noted journalists from the AFP.
Measuring 40 long by 26 m wide, the white emblem adorned with a profession of Islamic faith inscribed in black letters, was hoisted on a large mast.
Taliban members showed their joy by touching or grabbing the flag before it was raised.
“
Today a flag was raised which is the flag of independence, peace and brotherhood, and the symbol of the rules of the Islamic system,
” Abdul Salam Hanafi said.
"
It is not the flag of the Taliban or the mullahs, it is the flag of the whole nation that has made sacrifices, this flag belongs to all of Afghanistan
”, he assured.
Softer version of Islamic law
Until the capture of Kabul on August 15, 2021 by Islamist fundamentalists, the black-red-green tricolor national flag flew on the same mast at the top of Wazir Akbar Khan hill, where families come to walk and enjoy the panoramic view of Kabul.
But the Taliban ordered all ministries and public buildings to replace it with the white flag.
After taking power, the fundamentalists promised a softer version of the harsh interpretation of Islamic law that characterized their previous rule from 1996 to 2001, when they largely trampled on human rights.
If the new regime - which no country has recognized so far - has taken care not to enact rules that are too severe, restrictions are gradually being imposed, particularly concerning women.
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Thursday's ceremony came a week after secondary schools for girls closed, hours after the long-announced reopening.
In recent days, they also banned women from flying unless accompanied by a male relative, and decreed that men and women could not visit Kabul's parks on the same days.
They quickly barred Afghan women from many government jobs and controlled the way they dressed.