The Taliban’s police force employs 90,000 CCTV cameras to monitor 6 million people in Kabul, utilizing facial recognition to enhance surveillance. While officials claim this will combat crime, critics warn it facilitates enforcement of strict morality codes under Sharia Law, posing risks to personal freedoms, particularly for women. Amnesty International condemns the surveillance as a method to continue violating human rights. Additionally, residents report being coerced into paying for camera installations, with threats of service cutoffs for non-compliance. Amid severe economic challenges, many citizens question the necessity and effectiveness of such surveillance amidst dire humanitarian needs.
The Taliban’s police force employs 90,000 CCTV cameras to surveil the lives of 6 million citizens. From tracking license plates to analyzing facial expressions, their watchful eyes miss nothing.
“We oversee the entire city of Kabul from this location,” stated Khalid Zadran, a spokesman for the Taliban police chief, in an interview with the BBC.
Zadran further mentioned that in certain neighborhoods, if they detect anything suspicious or criminal, they contact the local police.
While the authorities claim that surveillance will aid in crime prevention, critics worry this could be used to enforce the strict morality codes implemented by the Taliban under Sharia Law. This also illustrates the increasing sophistication in the Taliban’s methods of law enforcement.
The system additionally features facial recognition capabilities. Images are displayed in a corner of the screen, categorized by age, gender, and whether the individual has a beard or is wearing a mask.
“On clear days, we can zoom in on individuals who are kilometers away,” Zadran noted.
Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization dedicated to human rights, warns that installing cameras “under the pretext of ‘national security’ creates a framework for the Taliban to persist with their repressive policies, which violate the fundamental rights of people in Afghanistan—particularly women in public settings.”
Women are concerned that such surveillance systems will monitor adherence to hijab regulations. Human rights defenders and protesters often have to operate in secrecy, a situation that may worsen under these conditions. Nevertheless, the Taliban has asserted that only the city police utilize the surveillance system, not their morality police—the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
Shella (name changed), a resident of central Kabul, recounted that the Taliban demanded thousands of afghanis from households to cover the costs of cameras installed near their homes. “If families refused to pay for the cameras, they were threatened with water and power cuts within three days. We had to take out loans to afford the expenses,” she explained.
“People are starving—what good are these cameras to them?” she added.
Since the Taliban’s ascension to power, international aid to Afghanistan has been halted, making it increasingly difficult for 30 million individuals in need of assistance.