Dressed head-to-toe in black robes with just a slit for their eyes, the revelation of the Taliban’s new all-female burqa-clad security force could hardly be called an unveiling.

The new squad – formed to put down female protests – was put on display in Kabul during a video to show the government’s forces to combat civil unrest.

Khalid Zadran – spokesman for Kabul Police Command, Ministry of Interior – shared a video of the unit on social media on 31st October.

The helmeted women can be seen posing in a line, dressed from head to toe in black veils and wielding batons and riot shields.

One appears to be carrying an assault rifle.

A Taliban statement the following day said: “We have trained some 100 female officers in various provinces for different activities, including riot control.”

The Taliban released footage of one of the women saying she had served in the police under Afghanistan’s previous government.

She claimed she and other officers who had worked under the former government had nothing to fear and should return to work.

Policewoman Zahra said: “My request to the former policewomen is to re-join their job and serve their country and people. There is no pressure or threat.”

But opponents have accused the Taliban of arbitrarily arresting, torturing, killing, and ‘disappearing’ former police officers – among them several women.

In the days following their takeover of Afghanistan last year, the Taliban shot a policewoman in front of her children at their home in Ghor Province.

Two policewomen were later killed at their homes in Mazar-i-Sharif.

And several former female police officers mysteriously disappeared, among them Alia Azizi – head of Herat Women’s Prison.