Taliban leaders ask us to believe that they will not return to the oppression of their pre-2001 rule, when they persecuted women, violated the basic rights of girls and denied them education. Sadly, actions on the ground do not yet bear this out. Conquering fighters have reportedly seized young girls as “wives”. Women are afraid to leave their homes unless clad in full-body burkas and niqabs, and schools are already closing, with girls told that education is not for them.  ..