Reporter's Notebook: When the Taliban First Came to Kabul 

Editor's note: The U.S. departure from Afghanistan marks another major turning point for the Taliban, the militant group with a long history in Afghanistan and a complex relationship with Pakistan. VOA reporters are looking back at the Taliban's rise to power and the group's previous tenure as Afghanistan's rulers.  

In late September 1996, after four years of civil war in Afghanistan, the Taliban succeeded in capturing Kabul and then tortured and killed former President Mohammad Najibullah before hanging his body from a traffic post. Shocking images of the executed president sent a signal to Afghans and the world that the Taliban had taken charge and would be imposing what they called a "complete Islamic system" for Afghanistan. Taliban flags began flying over government offices in Kabul, and their military rivals fled to their strongholds in the north. I arrived in Kabul on October 29, the start of the Taliban's second month in power in the war-torn city. The so-called "moral police" of the Taliban government agency known as the Promotion of Virtue and Elimination of Vice were the most feared squads in the capital. The armed guards in traditional Afghan dress had, in a single month, forced quick changes on urban Afghan women and men. Every man had to wear a cap or turban and sport a beard long enough to be grabbed by a fist. During prayer times, all businesses were required to close.