This is the centre of Kabul and this is a city that's gradually
returning to some kind of normality, even as its residents process
the dramatic events of the past few weeks, there are more restaurants
and shops that are open today than there had been in previous days.
There's more traffic in the streets, more people in the streets though
not quite as many as usual, and in particular, there are fewer women though
I have seen some and not necessarily wearing the all encompassing burka.
The fear is of course that in the coming days, the coming months,
the Taliban will impose more of their strict restrictions on women.
There's also a strong presence of heavily armed
Taliban fighters patrolling the city in vehicles like this.
They say they're here to prevent looting and unrest.
Despite their assurances of an amnesty for those linked to the government,
many who are here will be deeply fearful for their future.
There are still large, chaotic and panicked
crowds at the airport and residents are really, crucially,
waiting to find out what kind of government emerges from all of this.
The deputy leader of the Taliban, Mullah Baradar, last night flew into the
southern city of Kandahar from the groups political office in Doha.
Today, other senior Taliban leaders have also been meeting
with Afghan politicians. Today in a show of resistance
of sorts in the east of Afghanistan we saw crowds,
gathering and rallying around the red, green and black
flag of the Afghan state, as opposed to the white and black flag that
the Taliban have been replacing it with
in many areas. Now in the eastern city of Jalalabad, Taliban
members fired shots in the air to disperse the crowd.
How the Taliban deal with those with dissenting views,
views that oppose them, or challenge them, is one of the key
things that the international community, and Afghans here,
are going to be watching very closely in the coming days.