IN PUBLIC, its rhetoric is as implacable and militant as ever. Yet the Taliban, whose unyielding version of syariah law turned Afghanistan into one of the world's most backward nations, appears to be softening.

Even as the new Obama administration in the United States has suggested it is willing to talk to "moderate" elements of the Taliban, the Islamic movement is signalling a willingness to compromise.

It is understood that the Taliban is now open to forgoing such extreme measures as brutalising cabbies who play Bollywood tunes, forcibly shutting down schools for girls and measuring the length of beards, which are compulsory for men, reported The Independent.

Apart from these doctrinal points, the Taliban is also no longer insisting that its members make up the government of Afghanistan.

A leadership of religious scholars and acceptable technocrats, following a national loya jirga or community meeting, may be acceptable.

The Taliban's newly-conciliatory stance comes as Washington dances a deft two-step in its Afghanistan policy.

On the one hand, Mr Obama has rattled the sabre, approving the deployment of thousands of new troops to Afghanistan to reverse a worrying military situation. His administration has also widened the area of operations within Pakistan for deadly armed American drones, depriving Taliban leaders of unchallenged sanctuary.

At the same time, however, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has proposed a possible truce with non-violent Taliban.

"They should be offered an honorable form of reconciliation and reintegration into a peaceful society if they are willing to abandon violence, break with Al-Qaeda and support the constitution," she said in the Hague earlier this week.

Publicly, a Taliban spokesman rubbished the US gesture as "a lunatic idea".

But beyond the posturing, talks between President Hamid Karzai's government and the Taliban - as mediated by the Saudis - are already ongoing.

For more my paper stories click here.