When the Taliban?previously came into power in Afghanistan in 1996, they made it mandatory for women to be dressed up in the full burqa. However, they have recently made a statement to indicate that they wouldn't do the same this time, said an AFP report.
Under the terrorists' hardline 1996-2001 rule, girls' schools were closed, women were prevented from travelling and working, and women were forced to wear an all-covering burqa in public.
"The burqa is not the only hijab (headscarf) that (can) be observed, there is different types of hijab not limited to burqa," Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the group's political office in Doha, told Britain's Sky News.
The burqa is a one-piece overgarment that covers the entire head and body, with a mesh panel to see through.
The spokesperson did not specify other types of hijab that would be deemed acceptable by the militant organisation.
Aside from clothing, several countries have raised the alarm for the fate of women's education in Afghanistan.?
But Shaheen said things are going to be different from now.?
Women "can get education from primary to higher education -- that means university. We have announced this policy at international conferences, the Moscow conference and here at the Doha conference (on Afghanistan)," Shaheen said.
Thousands of schools in areas captured by the Taliban were still operational, he added.
The previous Taliban government imposed the strictest interpretations of sharia, establishing religious police for the suppression of "vice".
Extreme punishments were handed out by the Taliban court including chopping off the hands of thieves and stoning to death women accused of adultery.