<p>The Taliban raised a giant white flag of their movement on a hill overlooking the Afghan capital Thursday in a ceremony held nearly eight months after they returned to power.</p>.<p>Several hundred Taliban, many armed, attended the ceremony presided over by Abdul Salam Hanafi, a deputy prime minister, on the hill in Wazir Akbar Khan, near the mostly deserted diplomatic enclave in Kabul.</p>.<p>Measuring 40 metres (130 feet) wide and 26 metres high, the white flag is decorated with the Islamic profession of faith in black letters.</p>.<p>Some of those in attendance showed their joy by touching or grabbing the flag before it was raised.</p>.<p>"Today, a flag has been hoisted which is the flag of independence, peace and brotherhood, and the symbol of the rules of the Islamic system," said Hanafi.</p>.<p>"It is not the flag of the Taliban or the mullahs, it is the flag of the whole nation that has made sacrifices. This flag belongs to the whole of Afghanistan."</p>.<p>The Afghan national flag had been a black, red and green vertical tricolour with the national emblem overlaid in white, but the Taliban have ordered all government departments to display the white standard instead.</p>.<p>After returning to power in August, the Taliban promised a softer version of the harsh rule that characterised their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001, but restrictions have crept back -- often implemented regionally at the whim of local officials.</p>.<p>The flag-raising comes a week after the Taliban shut down all girls' secondary schools just hours after they allowed them to reopen for the first time since August.</p>.<p>In recent days, they have also barred women from flying unless accompanied by a male relative, and decreed men and women cannot visit parks in the capital on the same days.</p>.<p>Women are increasingly being shut out of public life -- barred from most government jobs, and ordered to dress according to the Taliban's strict interpretation of the Koran.</p>
<p>The Taliban raised a giant white flag of their movement on a hill overlooking the Afghan capital Thursday in a ceremony held nearly eight months after they returned to power.</p>.<p>Several hundred Taliban, many armed, attended the ceremony presided over by Abdul Salam Hanafi, a deputy prime minister, on the hill in Wazir Akbar Khan, near the mostly deserted diplomatic enclave in Kabul.</p>.<p>Measuring 40 metres (130 feet) wide and 26 metres high, the white flag is decorated with the Islamic profession of faith in black letters.</p>.<p>Some of those in attendance showed their joy by touching or grabbing the flag before it was raised.</p>.<p>"Today, a flag has been hoisted which is the flag of independence, peace and brotherhood, and the symbol of the rules of the Islamic system," said Hanafi.</p>.<p>"It is not the flag of the Taliban or the mullahs, it is the flag of the whole nation that has made sacrifices. This flag belongs to the whole of Afghanistan."</p>.<p>The Afghan national flag had been a black, red and green vertical tricolour with the national emblem overlaid in white, but the Taliban have ordered all government departments to display the white standard instead.</p>.<p>After returning to power in August, the Taliban promised a softer version of the harsh rule that characterised their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001, but restrictions have crept back -- often implemented regionally at the whim of local officials.</p>.<p>The flag-raising comes a week after the Taliban shut down all girls' secondary schools just hours after they allowed them to reopen for the first time since August.</p>.<p>In recent days, they have also barred women from flying unless accompanied by a male relative, and decreed men and women cannot visit parks in the capital on the same days.</p>.<p>Women are increasingly being shut out of public life -- barred from most government jobs, and ordered to dress according to the Taliban's strict interpretation of the Koran.</p>