BBC Afghan Service, Kabul
BBCIn a crowded command center, surrounded by lots of TV monitors, the Taliban’s authorities power triumphantly shows off its newly-acquired system of 90, 000 Video cameras- used to view over the day-to-day lives of millions of people.
” We monitor the entire area of Kabul from around”, says Khalid Zadran, a spokeswoman for the Taliban police captain, pointing to one of the windows.
The authorities say such surveillance will help fight crime, but critics fear it will be used to clamp down on dissent and to monitor the strict morality code enforced by the Islamist Taliban government under their interpretation of Sharia law.
The BBC is one of the first foreign reporters to be able to observe the technique in action.
Police officers are seated in sets inside the handle space, keeping tabs on the life of the six million residents of Kabul by watching live streams from thousands of devices.
From car licensing sheets to facial expressions, whatever is monitored.
” In sure towns, when we notice groups of people and think they might be involved in drug usage, criminal actions, or anything suspicious, we immediately reach out to the nearby police”, says Zadran.
They arrive quickly to determine the gathering’s character.
Under the preceding state, Kabul was threatened routine with problems from the Taliban and so-called Islamic State insurgents, as well as high profile robberies and car-jackings. When the Taliban retakes over in 2021, they made a promise to combat violence.
The Taliban’s continued style in the enforcement of law and order is evident in the dramatic rise in security cameras in the money. Only 850 cameras were in place in the money before their return, according to a spokeswoman for the security forces that were driven from strength.
Nevertheless, in the past three years, the Taliban officials have also introduced a range of punitive measures limiting women’s rights and freedoms, particularly those of ladies. The Taliban government has never received official recognition from any other nation.
The security system that the BBC has shown in Kabul offers the ability to monitor individuals using facial recognition. Each experience is listed according to age, sex, and whether or not they have a moustache or a face mask on a corner of a screen.
” On clear days, we can focus in on individuals]who are ] miles away”, says Zadran, highlighting a cameras positioned up great that focuses on a busy traffic bridge.
The Taliban also monitor their personal employees. At a station, as men popped open the trunk of a vehicle for inspection, the users focused their glasses, zooming in to scrutinise the articles within.
The cams have” significantly improved health, reduced crime rates, and quickly apprehending offenders,” according to the interior ministry. It further asserts that the introduction of motorcycle settings and CCTV has resulted in a 30 % decrease in crime rates between 2023 and 2024, but it is impossible to individually verify these numbers.
Freedom parties are, however, concerned about monitoring for what and how much.
According to Amnesty International, setting cameras” under the guise of “national security” serves as a template for the Taliban to carry out their oppressive policies, which violate women’s rights in open spaces.
By law, people are not permitted to get heard outside of their homes, but in reality this is not strictly enforced. Teenage girls are unable to enroll in extra or higher education. People are barred from some forms of employment. People who were working as midwives and midwives informed the BBC that it had been instructed not to attend classes in December.
Women are required to wear a mouth covering despite the fact that they are still visible on Kabul’s roads.
Since the Taliban have taken control, Fariba*, a fresh grad who lives with her kids in Kabul, has struggled to find employment. There is” important issue that surveillance cameras may be used to track children’s hijabs [veils],” she tells the BBC.
The Taliban claim that the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Ministry, the Taliban’s morality police, does not use the CCTV system, and only the city authorities have access to it.
Fariba is concerned that the devices will further avert the fate of those who oppose Taliban rule.
” Many people, especially ex-military people, animal rights activists and protesting people, struggle to move freely and usually survive in secrecy”, she says.
There is a real issue that security cameras will also be used to track women’s veils, she says.
In contrast, according to Human Rights Watch, Afghanistan does not have the appropriate data protection laws in position to control how the collected CCTV footage is used.
The police claim that the information is only kept for three months, but the interior government claims that the cameras are run by a” specific and specialized person in charge” and do not violate anyone’s privacy.
The camcorders appear to be Chinese-made. The control area screens and brand on the feeds the BBC saw carried the moniker Dahua, a Taiwanese government-linked business. The Taliban’s earlier information that they were talking about purchasing devices with China’s Huawei Technologies were refuted by the business. Officials from the Taliban declined to provide information to the BBC regarding the supplier of the products.
Regular Afghans who are subject to the system’s surveillance are paying a portion of the cost of installing the new community.
Shella* was asked to pay for some of the cameras installed on the streets near her residence in a home in central Kabul, according to the BBC.
” They demanded dozens of afghanis from every home”, she says. It’s a large amount in a country where those women who have jobs may earn only around 5, 000 afghanis ($ 68, £54 ) a month.
After years of war, the humanitarian position in Kabul and Afghanistan in public continues to be fragile. Although the country’s business is in crisis, foreign help has largely been stopped since the Taliban’s reign as leader.
According to the United Nations, 30 million people are in need of assistance.
” If people refused to pay]for the cameras], they were threatened with water and power reduces within three days”, Shella adds. To cover the costs, we had to obtain funding.
What good are these monitors to people who are starving?
The Taliban say that if individuals do not want to help, they may put in an official problem.
” Participation was deliberate, and gifts were in the hundreds, not tons,” Khalid Zadran, the Taliban police director, insists.
Despite the claims, rights activists inside and outside Afghanistan continue to be concerned about how to use a strong security system.
Jaber, a fruit vendor in Kabul, says the devices represent another way in which Afghans are made to feel useless.
” We are treated like trash, denied the opportunity to earn a living, and the government regard us while stupid, “he told the BBC.
” We can do nothing.”
*The names of the women interviewed for this piece were changed for their safety
Peter Ball provided more monitoring.