KABUL—When the Taliban banned girls from going to school in the 1990s, Mullah Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil served as the regime's foreign minister.

Now, Mr. Muttawakil's daughter attends a school in Kabul—one he set up. "She is in second grade and is one of the top students in her class," he said proudly, adding that he often helps with homework.

She is one of roughly 250 girls enrolled at the school he opened three years ago along with other former senior Taliban officials who have adopted a more moderate stance in recent years.

Like another co-founder of the school, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, Mr. Muttawakil spent years in U.S. detention after the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001. Both men live under government surveillance in the Afghan capital and neither has renounced the Taliban leadership of Mullah Omar.

Over the past few years, the Taliban leadership, too, has tried to soften its public image as it looks to regain power after U.S.-led coalition forces depart in December. In public statements, the Taliban say they support women's education, as long as the girls are taught in an Islamic environment.