Taliban will have to convince the world that it has become moderate

■ Does it matter that many of the new leaders are on UN sanctions lists and wanted by the FBI?

The new prime minister is on a UN sanctions list. The FBI is offering $10 million for information leading to the arrest of the interior minister, who is wanted for questioning in connection with a 2008 attack on a hotel in Kabul that killed six people, including a US citizen.

As the militant group settles in to rule the country again, legal experts say sanctions are one of the few viable points of leverage for the international community.

It is not unheard of for senior government officials, like those running North Korea, to be subject to sanctions. “One can think of multiple murderous regimes or regimes where people have been up to no good,” said Donald Rothwell, an expert in international law at Australian National University. “That in itself is not a disqualifying bar to the recognition of a government, or really doing business with another government.”

Western leaders have signalled a willingness to establish some kind of working relationship with the Taliban, he said. But, at least for now, the United States and its allies could stop short of legal recognition, Rothwell said. Western governments have made it clear that any resumption of foreign aid is conditional on the Taliban upholding basic human rights and allowing vulnerable Afghans to leave the country.

The Taliban says it wants good relations with all countries — with the reported exception of Israel — and has been meeting with representatives of foreign nations in September in Qatar, where the group keeps a political office, the Associated Press reported. China has openly expressed interest in engaging with Taliban militants, and along with Russia, has kept its embassy in Kabul open.

■ What does this new leadership mean for Afghanistan?

To get access to international aid and billions in central bank assets, the Taliban will have to convince the world that it has become more moderate than the previous iteration that banned girls from school and stoned women to death for supposed offences like adultery.

The all-male cabinet lineup is unlikely to help address the unease that has been building across the country in recent days, with reports of gender segregation in universities and demonstrations across major cities calling for a more inclusive government. In a potentially telling sign, the feared Ministry for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which enforced the Taliban’s severe interpretation of Islam in the 1990s, is set to return. At least one senior Taliban official has claimed that women won’t be allowed to play sports under the new regime, with the deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, telling Australia’s SBS News that sports are not seen as something important for women.