Taliban "Charm Offensive" Amid Kabul Takeover To Win Over Skeptical World

Now Taliban representatives are being welcomed from Beijing to Moscow, where Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last month called them "reasonable people."

On the eve of the US invasion in 2001, a top Taliban diplomat issued a warning: "Afghanistan is a swamp. People enter here laughing, are exiting injured." The US which soon afterward ousted the Taliban from Kabul in a matter of weeks, is now racing to evacuate the capital after the terrorist group seized control of it Sunday much faster than anyone predicted. Chaotic scenes gripped the airport on Monday, with reports of several deaths among the swarming crowds a day after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Even before the Taliban announce what comes next, the terrorist group appears in a stronger position on the world stage than it ever achieved during its five-year rule that ended after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Back then it was still fighting various warlords and its government was only recognized by three countries -- Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, for a bit. Its leader at the time had never been photographed. Now Taliban representatives are being welcomed from Beijing to Moscow, where Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last month called them "reasonable people." The group has a social-media presence and responsive media team that is saying all the right things: It wants an inclusive government, it won't take revenge on political opponents, diplomats are safe and investors won't have trouble: "No one should worry about their life," it said in a statement over the weekend. "We shouldn't embrace arrogance," Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's deputy leader, said on Monday. "Now is the time when we will be tested on how we serve and secure our people, and ensure their good life and future to the best of our ability."