In the article, Not your Father's Taliban, Andy Borowitz of the New Yorker comments on the changes in the organizations operating model.  The piece was prompted by a news item in The Times:

TALIBAN OVERHAUL IMAGE TO WIN ALLIES: The Taliban have embarked on a sophisticated information war, using modern media tools as well as some old-fashioned ones, to soften their image. . . . The dictates include bans on suicide bombings against civilians, burning down schools, or cutting off ears, lips and tongues.