U.S. State Department spokesman Glyn Davies said, during the September 27, 1996 State Department Regular Briefing, “The Taliban had announced ‘that Afghans can return to Kabul without fear, and that Afghanistan is the common home of all Afghans and we [take] those statements as an indication that the Taliban intends to respect the rights of all Afghans.’ When asked about the Taliban’s imposition of strict Islamic law in other areas under their control, Davies responded, ‘We’ve seen some of the reports that they’ve moved to impose Islamic law in the areas that they control. But at this stage, we’re not reading anything into that. I mean, there’s–on the face of it, nothing objectionable at this stage…”
– Steve Coll, Ghost Wars, Page 590