Leopards never change their spots. With a seemingly unstoppable onslaught of gender-specific restrictions and a notorious obsession with meddling into the everyday affairs of Afghans, the Taliban have clearly picked up where they had left two decades ago. Or had they ever gone missing, the elusive question hangs heavy in the air. While international agencies keep ringing the bells to warn of the impending starvation of over a million children, the new Kabul has decided to focus on a rather different issue: barbershops. New guidelines regarding the trimming of beards have been issued where the government spokespersons are hell-bent on making parallels with the Sunnah. Facial hair is the new fault line as the young generation is finding it increasingly hard to comply with the new normal. Meanwhile, restrictions on soap operas and slapping the guardianship requirement on females are ushering in a terrifying deja vu of the nineties marked by a tightened noose around the necks of anyone who dared defy the patriarchal order. Disturbing revelations about summary killings and forced disappearances made by Human Rights Watch have already smeared egg all over the Taliban’s claims of turning a new leaf over. But there appears no sign of any steps designed to take care of the optics problem. Failing to deliver on promises, especially those pertaining to an inclusive, gender-balanced government and bringing Afghanistan into the 21st century, would land Kabul in a sticky spot, considering the underway deliberations with the US. Clearly, the West is in no mood to release its grasp over the frozen assets, paying no heed to unprecedented hunger levels, raging drought conditions amid lingering nonpayment of salaries. But the grand scheme to force the Taliban to mend their ways through the hard bargain is to date gross failure because they do not plan to give even the Afghan men–let alone women and minorities–a chance at leading a free life. Defeating a superpower at its own game so crushingly that President Biden hung his head in resignation in his response to questions about $2.3 trillion and 6,500 American lives gone to waste was a phenomenal, almost magical, feat. However, a country cannot be run on bravery alone. It needs finances, and that is something Afghanistan needs the West for. The sooner Kabul wakes up to its reality, the better, because war-hardened Taliban might know a thing or two about surviving on pennies, but what about the 3.5 million pushed under open skies and millions more praying for a single loaf of bread? *