Proving not everything in the world should have a lifestyle spin placed on it, UK media outlet The Daily Mail has come under fire for a headline claiming the Taliban are "trendy" fashionistas.
The article from Mail Online last week claimed fighters patrolling the streets are accessorising "their traditional clothes with sunglasses, stylish trainers and own-branded baseball caps" to create "avant-garde catwalk outfits".
"Young Taliban fighters have abandoned the austere look of their predecessors in favour of trendier outfits worlds apart from the unkempt, hirsute and severe Taliban of 20 years ago," the article reads.
But it has been slammed by online commentators for trivialising the humanitarian crisis currently occurring in Afghanistan after the country's government surrendered to the Taliban a week ago.
Independent and Guardian contributor Rashmee Roshan Lall called the article "ridiculous".
"The 'trendy Taliban'? You've got to be kidding," she entitled a blog post on the matter on her website.
"Of all the ridiculous stories on Afghanistan I've read, Mail Online takes the sambusa - that's the Afghan version of the samosa, by the way."
Lall called the Mail article a "puff piece" that would not be out of place "in a fashion magazine".
"It was a truly ludicrous attempt to write something new and different about the Taliban. No matter what the piece said, look at the photos and you realise the Taliban are just as you'd expect."
Her sentiments were echoed by political writer Paul Dallison, who wrote for Politico it was a "Godawful take".
"Mail Online went where no one else dared/was too sensible to tread," he wrote, adding that it took only "a quick scan" of the accompanying photos to call that angle "weapons-grade bollocks".
"They look exactly as you'd expect members of the Taliban to look if you've never met one - except one of them has shades on because it's sunny there," said Dallison.
"Call me old-fashioned but the thing that stands out from the photos isn't their fashion choices but that they are carrying MASSIVE GUNS."
Of course, people also took to Twitter to express their thoughts on the headline: Some saw the funny side, others were outraged.
One user called it "abhorrent", while another wrote they may need to "permanently remove myself from the internet".
