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In Pictures

Gallery|Taliban

Taliban: From Afghanistan’s rugged mountains to policing streets

Members halt street fights, summon suspected criminals to police stations and chase those who do not heed their call.

An Afghan boy watches as Taliban fighters search for a man accused of a stabbing in Kabul. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]
Published On 5 Oct 20215 Oct 2021
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One fighter after another, the Taliban is trading in their characteristic long flowing garb for stiff military uniforms.

It is a symbol of the moment of transition its fighters find themselves in: Once warriors embedded in Afghanistan’s rugged mountains, now they are an urban police force.

But change is always an adjustment.

In the capital Kabul, crime was rampant under the previous government of Ashraf Ghani. Robberies and kidnappings were a near-daily occurrence and the judicial process time-consuming and expensive.

By winning the country – after two decades of war – with the August 15 seizure of Kabul, the Taliban also inherited a city marked by lawlessness.

Immediately, it set to work, making its presence known in daily street patrols. Some fighters have done away with the typical AK-47 rifles replacing them with US-made M16s left behind by Afghan forces.

They halt street fights, summon suspected criminals to police stations and chase those who do not heed their call.

In Kabul’s Police District 8, there is a long queue leading to two rooms. In one, there are criminal cases. In another, civilian disputes.

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Victims of stabbings, robbery and other misdeeds sit in the same room as alleged perpetrators, staring into the distance until it is their turn to plead their case.

For lesser crimes, Taliban police offer the accused three days to show up at the station. After that, they go after them.

The court system is a work in progress, officials said. Meetings are still under way between Taliban officials – used to tribal justice prevalent in rural Afghanistan – to work out the process in a sprawling city with an active judiciary.

Even those who fear them in the embattled city welcome the peace their arrival has brought.

The Taliban has empowered local elders to pass judgement based on their interpretation of Islamic law for minor criminal cases.

In the Sheikh Zayed City residential area of Kabul, a committee of elders ordered the father of a man accused of stabbing a neighbour to pay 35,000 Afghanis, about $400.

The father counts the banknotes in a rapid shuffle and hands it to the imam, who offers it to the family of the victim. They embrace. Justice served.

In the Afghan capital, crime was rampant under the previous government. Robberies and kidnappings were a near-daily occurrence and the judicial process time-consuming and expensive. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]
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An Afghan man watches as a Taliban fighter searches his car at a checkpoint in Kabul. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]
Taliban fighters eat lunch at a police station. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]
Taliban fighters cast shadows over drug users detained at a police station in Kabul. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]
Afghan men sit in the criminal cases room of a police station in Kabul. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]
Taliban fighters ride in the back of a vehicle during a night patrol. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]
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Afghans gather to watch Taliban fighters detaining drug users during a police operation in Kabul. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]
Two men detained by Taliban fighters sit at the entrance of a police station. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]
Taliban fighters talk to a detainee before transferring him to a court in Kabul. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]
Taliban fighters talk to recently arrested prisoners in the Pul-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul. Pul-e-Charkhi was previously the main government prison for holding captured Taliban and was notorious for abuses, poor conditions and severe overcrowding with thousands of prisoners. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]
A Taliban fighter looks into a holding cell for detainees at a police station in Kabul. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]
Muhammad Jawid, the father of a man accused of stabbing a neighbour, stands in a room where a committee of local elders judge the incident and determine the verdict. Jawid's son was declared guilty and the family paid a fine of 35,000 Afghanis, about $400, to the victim. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]
Taliban fighters ride atop a Humvee on the way to detain Afghans involved in a street fight in Kabul. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]
Afghans shop at a local market in Kabul. [Felipe Dana/AP Photo]


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