New Taliban rulers face tough economic, security challenges

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers face tough economic and security challenges as they step back into power in a country that is vastly different from the one they left 20 years ago.

When they last ruled in the late 1990s, Afghanistan was a poor agricultural nation, and the Taliban were preoccupied with imposing their harsh brand of Islam on an already deeply traditional and largely compliant population.

This time, they're inheriting a more developed society with a small, educated middle class, but also an economy that has been devastated by war and corruption. Even before the Taliban overran Kabul on Aug. 15, the jobless rate was more than 30% and more than half of Afghans lived in poverty, despite two decades of U.S. involvement and billions of dollars in aid.

The Taliban have sought to reassure Afghans that they've changed from 1996, when they ruled with a heavy hand. Men had to grow beards and women had to wear the all-encompassing burqa. Girls were denied education and entertainment like music and television were shunned.

That past haunts many Afghans, and there is an underlying sense of fear that the Taliban of old lurk below the surface of the country's new rulers. It's keeping many people away from returning to their jobs, despite assurances from the Taliban, and it has prompted thousands to seek a future outside Afghanistan.

“The Taliban’s greatest challenge is to ... embrace others in governing Afghanistan,” said Torek Farhadi, a former adviser to the toppled Western-backed government.

“They feel they have a military victory and it might seem strange for their ranks that they now have to gift positions of power to others,” Farhadi said.

But, he added, a new government can only succeed if all Afghans, including women, can feel...