That the Afghan Taliban have finally started to make the kind of noise about female education, etc, that the international community would like to hear shows that they might just have come round to changing some of their more controversial policies. Most likely they’ve completely run out of money and have understood by now that they would have to blink first this time. It was one thing to win the war, which was no doubt a monumental achievement, but it’s quite another to run a country 80pc of whose budget needs to be financed from outside. And all they really have to do to get the money they need is to give women, minorities and political opponents their most basic rights. Kabul’s refusal to play along also raised eyebrows because they agreed to these conditions themselves; in Doha, just ahead of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. And since Pakistan facilitated the peace, and has also lobbied for resumption of aid to the Taliban, Kabul’s behaviour was also embarrassing for Islamabad. Border incidents, when Taliban fighters destroyed part of the fence erected on the Pakistani side, didn’t help matters at all. Yet now it is heartening to note that the Taliban have announced putting all girls in schools by the end of March. Countries like America, which have the power to unblock the funds that Afghanistan so desperately needs, should also show some flexibility now. Part of the reason for blocking the money, in addition to the Taliban’s stubbornness, was the fact that the Americans felt embarrassed and humiliated by the manner of their exit from the war. And since then they’ve been trying to hurt the Taliban economically. Yet it’s to nobody’s advantage to see innocent Afghan civilians starve because of all that is going on. Therefore, it is hoped that the Taliban would help themselves and their country’s people and problems that can be easily solved will become things of the past forever. *