Following the recent political transition of power in Afghanistan after two decades of war, the Taliban is expected to appoint its new government in the country very soon.

According to the BBC News Reporter, Inayatulhaq Yasini, who had an interview with the deputy head of the Taliban political office in Qatar reviewed that women might continue their work in the government but rather ‘may not’ be part of the senior leadership or cabinet.

This statement has further added to the many questions that people already have as to how the Taliban is going to rule the country and this poses an uncertainty of how the future is going to be for women and children in Afghanistan.

Looking back at the rule of the Taliban, women were victims of execution and torture if they were ever seen outside of their homes unless it was so under clarified demands. The Taliban Leadership has promised to handle the issue of gender more delicately indicating that, although they won’t acquire senior positions, women will be allowed to go to work and girls will be allowed to go to school within the confines of their understanding of Islam.

Although the Taliban claims to change, the latest events doesn’t prove otherwise. This is so following the Taliban Spokesperson’s statement that women should stay at home for now, reason being that some of the military personnel have not been trained not to hurt them yet.

We are worried our forces who are new and have not yet been trained very well may mistreat women,” said Mr Mujahid. “We don’t want our forces, God forbid, to harm or harass women. For now they should stay at home until we have a new procedure, their salaries will be paid in their homes”.

Although the Taliban government’s statements sounds promising, it is believed to be the same thing they said the last time they controlled Afghanistan (Heather Barr, Director of Women’s Rights Watch). “The explanation was that the security is not yet good enough and they were waiting for security to get better and then women would be able to have more freedom,” she said. “But of course in the years they were in power, that moment never arrived – and I can promise you Afghan women hearing this today are thinking it will never arrive this time either.”

Women in Afghanistan who have managed to share their thoughts pertaining the transition of power through social media platforms have indicated that,”They’re trying to look normal and legitimate, and this will last as long as the international community and international press are still there. And then we will see what they are really like again.”

Although promising, no one seems to trust nor expect the Taliban to respect women’s rights, but rather they are just playing soapie until the international media and community disappears.