KABUL (AFP) - Days after the Taleban captured a remote district in Afghanistan's north, they issued their first orders in the form of a letter to the local imam.

"It said women can't go to the bazaar without a male companion, and men should not shave their beards," said Sefatullah, 25, a resident of Kalafgan district.

The insurgents also banned smoking, he added, and warned that anybody violating the rules "will be seriously dealt with".

The Taleban are making huge advances across the country as they capitalise on the final withdrawal of foreign troops - capturing districts, seizing key border crossings, and encircling provincial capitals.

In some areas, they are again introducing the harsh interpretation of Islamic rule that earned them notoriety until being overthrown by the United States-led invasion that followed the Sept 11 attacks.

Last month, they took Shir Khan Bandar, a northern customs post that connected the country to Tajikistan over a US-funded bridge that spanned the Panj river.

"After Shir Khan Bandar fell, the Taleban ordered women not to step out of their homes," said Sajeda, who told AFP she worked in a local factory at the time.

"There were many women and young girls doing embroidery, tailoring and shoe-making... The Taleban's order has now terrified us," she told AFP by phone.

The Taleban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 according to an interpretation of the Quran little changed in centuries.

Women were ordered to stay indoors unless accompanied by a male relative, girls were banned from school, and those found guilty of crimes such as adultery were stoned to death.

Men had relatively more freedom but were ordered not to shave, would be beaten if they didn't attend prayers, and were told to only wear traditional clothing.

Afghanistan is deeply conservative and some rural pockets of the country adhere to similar rules even without Taleban oversight - but the insurgents have tried to impose these edicts even in more modern centres.

A statement, purporting to come from the Taleban and circulating on social media this week, ordered villagers to marry off their daughters and widows to the movement's foot soldiers.

"All imams and mullahs in captured areas should provide the Taleban with a list of girls above 15 and widows under 45 to be married to Taleban fighters," said the letter, issued in the name of the Taleban's cultural commission.

It brought back bitter memories of the edicts issued by the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice during the Taleban's first stint in power.

Keen to project a softer image this time around, they have denied issuing any such statement and dismissed it as propaganda.

"These are baseless claims," said Taleban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

"They are rumours spread using fabricated papers."

But people in areas recently taken by the insurgents insist there is truth to the social media buzz.

In Yawan district on the Tajikistan border, the Taleban gathered residents at a local mosque after taking over.

"Their commanders told us that nobody is allowed to leave home at night," Mr Nazir Mohammad, 32, told AFP.

"And no person - especially the youth - can wear red and green clothes," he said, referring to the colours of the Afghan flag.

Their orders did not stop there.

"Everybody should wear a turban and no man can shave," said Mr Mohammad. "Girls attending schools beyond sixth grade were barred from classes."

The Taleban insist they will protect human rights - particularly those of women - but only according to "Islamic values", which are interpreted differently across the Muslim world.

For Sajeda on the Tajikistan border, just a few days of Taleban rule was enough - and she fled south to the nearby city of Kunduz.

"We will never be able to work in areas under the Taleban," she said. "So, we left".