Inside the Taliban Monitoring Network of Millions

In a crowded control center, surrounded by dozens of television screens, the Taliban police proudly shows its newly accepted 90,000 CCTV cameras-used to monitor the daily life of millions of people.

“We are watching the whole city of Kabul from here,” says Halid Tarran, a spokesman for the head of the Taliban police, pointing to one of the screens.

Authorities claim that such observation will help fight crime, but critics fear it will be used to press disagreement and monitor the strict Morale Code applied by the Islamist Taliban Government According to their interpretation of the Sharia lawS

The BBC is the first international journalists allowed to see the system in action.

Inside the control room, the police sit in ranks and watch live streams of thousands of cameras, maintaining sections for the lives of the six million people living in Kabul.

From the registration plates of the car to the expression of the face, everything is observed.

“In certain neighborhoods, when we notice groups of people and suspect that they can participate in drug use, criminal activities or something suspicious, we quickly connect with the local police,” says Parrane.

“They arrive quickly to explore the nature of the collection.”

In the previous government, Kabul was daily threatened with attacks by the Taliban and the so -called Islamic State fighters, as well as with abductions and abductions with high profiles. When the Taliban attracted power in 2021, they promised to break up with crime.

The dramatic increase in the number of observation cameras in the capital is a sign of increasing sophistication in the way Taliban law and order. Prior to their return, only 850 cameras had in the capital, according to a spokesman for the security forces that were expelled from power.

However, in the last three years, the Taliban authorities have also introduced a number of Draconi measures that limit the rights and freedoms of humans, especially those of women. The Taliban government is not officially recognized by any other country.

The BBC monitoring system is shown in Kabul has the ability to track people by recognizing the face. On the angle of one screen images appear with any person categorized by age range, gender and whether they have a beard or face mask.

“On clear days, we can increase the scale of people (who are) miles away,” says Parrane, emphasizing the camera high, which focuses on the busy road.

The Talibans even watch their own staff. At the checkpoint, when the soldiers opened the trunk of a car for inspection, the operators focused their lenses, increasing to view the contents inside.

The interior ministry says the cameras “have contributed significantly to increased safety, limiting the percentage of crime and the rapid retention of offenders.” It adds the introduction of CCTV and motorcycle controls that have led to a 30% reduction in the crime rate between 2023 and 2024, but it is not possible to independently check these numbers.

However, the rights are concerned about who has been monitored and for how long.

Amnesty International claims that the installation of cameras “under the guise of” national security “puts a template for the Taliban to continue their dragon policies that violate the fundamental rights of people in Afghanistan – especially women in public spaces.”

By law, women cannot be heard outside their houses, although this is not strictly applied in practice. Teenage girls are prevented from accessing secondary and higher education. Women are banned from many forms of work. In December, women who study as midwives and nurses told the BBC that they had been ordered not to return to the hours.

While women continue to be seen on the streets of cities like Kabul, they are required to carry a facial cover.

Fariba*, a young graduate who lives with her parents in Kabul, has failed to find a job since the Taliban came to power. She tells the BBC that there is “considerable concern that the observation cameras can be used to monitor women’s hijabi (veils).”

Taliban claim that only city police have access to the CCTV system and the dissemination of virtue and the prevention of the deputy ministry – the taliban morale police – it does not use it.

But Fariba is concerned that the cameras will further threaten those who oppose the Taliban rule.

“Many people, especially former military members, defenders of human rights and protest against women, are struggling to move freely and often live a secret,” she says.

“There is considerable concern that the observation cameras will also be used to monitor women’s hijals,” she says.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch says Afghanistan has no data protection laws to regulate how the collected CCTV footage is behaved and used.

Police claim that the data are stored only for three months, while according to the interior ministry, cameras do not pose a threat to privacy, as “are managed by a special and completely confidential hall by a specific and professional manager”.

The cameras look Chinese. The control room also monitors the branding of the emissions that BBC SAW was named Dahua, a Chinese government -related company. More reported reports that the Taliban spoke with Chinese Huawei technology about buying cameras were denied by the company. Taliban officials refused to answer the BBC questions about where they received the equipment.

Some of the cost of installing the new network falls on ordinary Afghans monitored by the system.

At a house in Central Kabul, BBC talks with Shella*, which was asked to pay for some of the cameras installed on the streets near her home.

“They asked for thousands of Afghans from every household,” she says. This is a large sum in a country where those women who have a job can only earn about 5,000 Afghans (68; £ 54) per month.

The humanitarian situation in Kabul and Afghanistan as a whole remains uncertain after years of war. The country’s economy is in crisis, but the financing of international aid has been largely suspended since the Taliban returned to power.

According to the United Nations, 30 million people need help.

“If the families refused to pay (for the cameras), they were threatened with water and the electricity interruption within three days,” Shela adds. “We had to borrow to cover the costs.

“People are starving – what are these cameras for them?”

The Taliban says that if people do not want to contribute, they can file a formal complaint.

“The participation was voluntary, and the donations were in the hundreds, not thousands,” insists Khalid Tarran, a spokesman for the Taliban police.

Despite assurances, rights campaigns both inside and outside Afghanistan continue to have concerns about how such a powerful surveillance system will be used.

Jaber, a vegetable salesman in Kabul, says the cameras are another way that Afghans are made to feel powerless.

“We treat garbage, we deny the possibility of making a living, and the authorities consider us useless,” he told the BBC.

“We can’t do anything.”

*The names of the interviewee for this piece were changed for their safety

With additional reporting by Peter Ball