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The Taliban have promised that, under their new regime, women in Afghanistan will have rights "within the limits of Islamic law", or sharia law, but it is not clear what that means.

The sharia leaves considerable room for interpretation. When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan in the past, they imposed a strict sharia prohibiting women from working outside the home or leaving home without the company of a male, eliminating school instruction for girls and whipping people who violated the group's moral code.

On this occasion the insurgents have not yet said how they intend to apply Islamic law. But millions of Afghan women fear a return to past practices.

These are the basic points about sharia law and some considerations as to how it could affect the Taliban's treatment of women.

The Shariah is based on the Koran, on the accounts of the life of the Prophet Muhammad and on the decisions of religious scholars who form the moral and legal framework of Islam. The Koran sets out a path to moral life but not a particular set of laws.

One interpretation of sharia law could provide women with extensive rights, while another could leave women with few. Critics have said that some of the Taliban's restrictions on women under the pretext of Islamic law are in fact outside the confines of sharia law.

Interpretations of sharia law are the subject of debate throughout the Muslim world, and groups and governments that base their legal systems on sharia law have done so in different ways. When the Taliban say they are going to introduce sharia law, that does not mean that they will do so in ways that Islam scholars or other Muslim authorities would agree.

¿Cuáles son los mandatos de la sharía?

The Shariah enumerates some particular crimes, such as theft and adultery, and provides punishment if the charges meet a standard of proof. It also offers moral and spiritual guidance, such as when and how to pray, or how to marry and divorce.

It does not prohibit women from leaving home without a male companion or prevent them from working in most jobs.

¿Cómo han interpretado la sharía los talibanes en el pasado?

When the Taliban controlled Afghanistan, between 1996 and 2001, they banned television and most musical instruments. They established a department for the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice based on a Saudi model.

Restrictions on behaviour, clothing and movement were applied by morality police officers in vans publicly humiliating and whipping women who did not adhere to the rules. In 1996, a woman in Kabul lost a thumb to wearing painted fingernails, according to Amnesty International.

Women accused of adultery were stoned to death.

What can this mean for women now?

Experts have been monitoring the recent behavior of the Taliban in search of keys to know if they will treat women differently.

A senior Taliban official gave an interview to a television journalist in Kabul this week as part of a wider campaign by the group to present a more moderate face to the world and the country.

But hours later, a renowned news presenter on state television said that the Taliban had suspended her and other women working there indefinitely.

A Taliban spokesman said that women would be allowed to work and study, and another official has commented that women should participate in government, indicating a possible break with past practices.

But outside Kabul, some women have been told not to leave home without being accompanied by a male relative and the Taliban have prevented women from entering at least one university. They have also closed down some women's clinics and girls' schools.

Hosna Jalil, who was Deputy Minister for Women's Affairs in Afghanistan, told the German network Deutsche Welle that she had little confidence that the Taliban would interpret sharia law differently this time.

"for them sharia meant not having access to education, restricted access to health services, lack of access to justice, housing, food security, employment, literally nothing."

Daniel Victor is a London based reporter who previously lived in Hong Kong and New York. He joined the times in 2012. @ bydanielvictor

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