The Taliban are known for their horrific treatment of women, but now they want us to believe they’ve had a change of heart. The terrorist organization is promoting amnesty. The AP cites these comments from Enamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s cultural commission who described women as “the main victims of the more than 40 years of crisis in Afghanistan.”

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan doesn’t want the women to be the victims anymore. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is ready to provide women with environment to work and study, and the presence of women in different (government) structures according to Islamic law and in accordance with our cultural values.”

Still, U.S. officials and the U.N. Security Council are presenting a hopeful tone, echoing the call for women to join the new government.

Women don’t buy it and most have gone into hiding, afraid to leave their homes. NBC Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell says (watch above):

“The Taliban are already going house to house. I‘m getting emails, voicemails, people calling, human rights groups are getting flooded from calls from women and girls. Already the Taliban taking girls from their mother’s and the video is too horrifying to show.”

On Monday we noted that most of the people crowding the airports to escape the country were men. We learned it’s because the women are too afraid to travel to the airports. They are worried they will be kidnapped on the way, or worse.

Over the last twenty years, women have carved a path for themselves but as Mitchell points out they believe that has all come to an abrupt end:

“The millions of women who have gone to school, learned to code, learned to become teachers, we have another generation already, a generation that’s never known Taliban rule, they don’t want to go back, but they’re terrified. They bought burkas in advance of this and now they are crying for help… for the general population, I think it is back to the middle ages.”

Experts say what the Taliban is doing in speaking with the media and appearing to play nice is a public relations campaign of sorts. Social media didn’t exist 20 years ago, now they know how to work it to their advantage. The New York Times writes:

The Taliban leadership appears to be carefully tending to the group’s public image, even as its members continue to preach a policy of exclusion that deprives women of rights and education inside the country.

The notion that the Taliban will suddenly change their ways has been greeted with deep skepticism.

Even if you believe the Taliban will allow women into their government, note that the organization says it would be in accordance with Sharia law. In others words, not much has changed. Women would still face strict rules and oppression.

In other words, the Taliban hasn’t changed.