Inside the Taliban's surveillance network monitoring millions

In a crowded power centre, surrounded by dozens of TV screens, the Taliban's constabulary unit proudly shows disconnected its newly-acquired web of 90,000 CCTV cameras - utilized to ticker implicit the day-to-day lives of millions of people.

"We show the full metropolis of Kabul from here," says Khalid Zadran, a spokesperson for the Taliban constabulary chief, pointing to 1 of the screens.

The authorities accidental specified surveillance volition assistance combat crime, but critics fearfulness it volition beryllium utilized to clamp down connected dissent and to show the strict morality codification enforced by the Islamist Taliban authorities under their mentation of Sharia law.

The BBC are the archetypal planetary journalists allowed to spot the strategy successful action.

Inside the power room, constabulary officers beryllium successful rows watching the unrecorded streams from thousands of cameras, keeping tabs connected the lives of the six cardinal radical who unrecorded successful Kabul.

From car licence plates to facial expressions, everything is monitored.

"In definite neighbourhoods, erstwhile we announcement groups of radical and fishy they mightiness beryllium progressive successful cause use, transgression activities, oregon thing suspicious, we rapidly scope retired to the section police," says Zadran.

"They get swiftly to analyse the quality of the gathering."

Under the erstwhile government, Kabul was threatened regular with attacks from the Taliban and alleged Islamic State militants, arsenic good arsenic precocious illustration kidnappings and car-jackings. When the Taliban retook powerfulness successful 2021, they promised to ace down connected crime.

The melodramatic summation successful the fig of surveillance cameras successful the superior is simply a motion of increasing sophistication successful the mode the Taliban enforce instrumentality and order. Before their return, conscionable 850 cameras were successful spot successful the capital, according to a spokesperson for the information forces that were driven from power.

However, successful the past 3 years, the Taliban authorities person besides introduced a scope of draconian measures limiting people's rights and freedoms, particularly those of women. The Taliban authorities has not been formally recognised by immoderate different country.

The surveillance strategy the BBC is shown successful Kabul features the enactment to way radical by facial recognition. On the country of 1 surface images popular up with each look categorised by property range, gender, and whether oregon not they person a beard oregon a look mask.

"On wide days, we tin zoom successful connected individuals [who are] kilometres away," says Zadran, highlighting a camera positioned up precocious that focuses connected a engaged postulation junction.

The Taliban adjacent show their ain personnel. At a checkpoint, arsenic soldiers popped unfastened the trunk of a car for inspection, the operators focused their lenses, zooming successful to scrutinise the contents within.

The interior ministry says the cameras person "significantly contributed to enhancing safety, curbing transgression rates, and swiftly apprehending offenders". It adds the instauration of CCTV and motorcycle controls person led to a 30% alteration successful transgression rates betwixt 2023 and 2024 but it is not imaginable to independently verify these figures.

However, rights groups are acrophobic astir who is being monitored and for however long.

Amnesty International accidental installing cameras "under the guise of 'national security' sets a template for the Taliban to proceed their draconian policies that interruption cardinal rights of radical successful Afghanistan - particularly women successful nationalist spaces".

By instrumentality women are not allowed to beryllium heard extracurricular their houses, though successful signifier this is not being strictly enforced. Teenage girls are prevented from accessing secondary and higher education. Women are barred from galore forms of employment. In December, women grooming arsenic midwives and nurses told the BBC they had been ordered not to instrumentality to classes.

While women proceed to beryllium disposable connected the streets of cities similar Kabul, they are required to deterioration a look covering.

Fariba*, a young postgraduate who lives with her parents successful Kabul, has been incapable to find enactment since the Taliban came to power. She tells the BBC determination is "significant interest that surveillance cameras whitethorn beryllium utilized to show women's hijabs [veils]".

The Taliban accidental lone the metropolis constabulary person entree to the CCTV strategy and the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Ministry – the Taliban's morality constabulary - does not usage it.

But Fariba is acrophobic the cameras volition further endanger those opposed to Taliban rule.

"Many individuals, particularly ex-military members, quality rights advocates and protesting women, conflict to determination freely and often unrecorded successful secrecy," she says.

"There is important interest that surveillance cameras volition beryllium utilized to show women's hijabs too," she says.

Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, says Afghanistan does not person the information extortion laws successful spot to modulate however the collected CCTV footage is held and used.

The constabulary accidental the information is kept lone for 3 months, while, according to the interior ministry, the cameras bash not airs a menace to privateness arsenic they "are operated from a peculiar and wholly confidential country by a circumstantial and nonrecreational idiosyncratic successful charge".

The cameras look to beryllium Chinese-made. The power country monitors and branding connected the feeds the BBC saw carried the sanction Dahua, a Chinese government-linked company. Earlier reports that the Taliban were successful talks with China's Huawei Technologies to bargain cameras were denied by the company. Taliban officials refused to reply BBC questions astir wherever they sourced the equipment.

Some of the outgo of installing the caller web is falling connected mean Afghans who are being monitored by the system.

In a location successful cardinal Kabul the BBC spoke to Shella*, who was asked to wage for immoderate of the cameras installed connected the streets adjacent her home.

"They demanded thousands of afghanis from each household," she says. It's a ample magnitude successful a state wherever those women who person jobs whitethorn gain lone astir 5,000 afghanis ($68; £54) a month.

The humanitarian concern successful Kabul, and successful Afghanistan successful general, remains precarious aft years of war. The country's system is successful crisis, but planetary assistance backing has been mostly stopped since the Taliban came backmost to power.

According to the United Nations, 30 cardinal radical are successful request of aid.

"If families refused to wage [for the cameras], they were threatened with h2o and powerfulness cuts wrong 3 days," Shella adds. "We had to instrumentality loans to screen the costs.

"People are starving - what bully are these cameras to them?"

The Taliban accidental that if radical bash not privation to contribute, they tin enactment successful an authoritative complaint.

"Participation was voluntary, and donations were successful the hundreds, not thousands," Khalid Zadran, the Taliban constabulary spokesperson, insists.

Despite the assurances, rights campaigners some wrong and extracurricular Afghanistan proceed to person concerns implicit however specified a almighty surveillance strategy volition beryllium used.

Jaber, a rootlike seller successful Kabul, says the cameras correspond different mode successful which Afghans are made to consciousness powerless.

"We are treated similar trash, denied the accidental to gain a living, and the authorities respect america arsenic worthless," helium told the BBC.

"We tin bash nothing."

*The names of the women interviewed for this portion were changed for their safety

With further reporting by Peter Ball