FILE PHOTO: Afghan music students participate in a music training session at a cultural and educational centre in Kabul March 7, 2014. . REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl/File Photo
(Reuters) - Even before the last U.S. flight left Kabul at midnight on Monday, many of the bright and garish sights and sounds of city life in Afghanistan were changing as those left behind tried to fit in with the austere tone of their new Taliban rulers.
The Taliban have so far been at pains to show a more conciliatory face to the world, with none of the harsh public punishments and outright bans on public entertainments that characterized their previous time in power before 2001.
