Within the surveillance network of the Talibanes by monitoring millions

In a control center full of people, surrounded by dozens of television screens, the Taliban police force proudly shows its newly acquired network of 90,000 CCTV cameras, it used to monitor the daily life of millions of people.

“We monitor the entire city of Kabul from here,” says Khalid Zadran, spokesman for the Taliban police chief, pointing to one of the screens.

The authorities say that such vigilance will help fight crime, but critics fear that it will be used to tighten the dissent and monitor the strict morality code applied by the Islamist Taliban government Under his interpretation of Sharia’s law.

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

Within the control room, police officers sit in rows that look at live broadcasts from thousands of cameras, keeping tabs in the life of the six million people living in Kabul.

From car plates to facial expressions, everything is monitored.

“In certain neighborhoods, when we notice groups of people and suspect that they could be involved in the use of drugs, criminal activities or something suspicious, we quickly communicate with the local police,” says Zadran.

“They arrive quickly to investigate the nature of the meeting.”

Under the previous government, Kabul was threatened daily with Taliban attacks and the so -called Islamic State militants, as well as high -profile kidnappings and car trucks. When the Taliban resumed power in 2021, they promised to take energetic measures against crime.

The dramatic increase in the number of surveillance chambers in the capital is a sign of growing sophistication in the way in which the Taliban enforce the law and order. Before his return, only 850 cameras were in his place 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 variety of draconian measures that limit people’s rights and freedoms, especially those of women. The Taliban government has not been formally recognized by any other country.

The surveillance system that the BBC is shown in Kabul presents the option to track people by facial recognition. In the corner of a screen, the images appear with each face categorized by the age range, gender and whether or not they have a beard or a facial mask.

“In the clear days, we can approach people (who are) kilometers away,” says Zadran, highlighting a camera placed high that focuses on a busy traffic cross.

The Taliban even monitor their own staff. At a control point, as the soldiers opened the trunk of a car for inspection, the operators focused their lenses, approaching to analyze the content inside.

The Interior Ministry says that the cameras “have contributed significantly to improve security, stop crime rates and quickly stop criminals.” Add the introduction of CCTV and motorcycle controls have led to a 30% decrease in crime rates between 2023 and 2024, but it is not possible to independently verify these figures.

However, the rights groups are concerned about who is being monitored and for how long.

Amnesty International says that the installation of cameras “under the appearance of ‘National Security’ establishes a workforce so that the Taliban continue their draconian policies that violate the fundamental rights of people in Afghanistan, especially women in public spaces.”

By law, women are not allowed to be heard outside their homes, although in practice this is not being strictly applied. Teenagers are prevented from accessing secondary and higher education. Women are prohibited by many forms of employment. In December, women who train as midwives and nurses told the BBC that they had not ordered that they do not return to classes.

While women continue to be visible in the streets of cities like Kabul, they must use a face cover.

Fariba*, a young graduate who lives with his parents in Kabul, has not been able to find work since the Taliban came to power. She tells the BBC that it is “a significant concern that surveillance cameras can be used to monitor women’s children (veils).”

The Taliban say that only the city police have access to the CCTV system and the spread of virtue and prevention of the Vice Ministry, the morality police of the Taliban, does not use it.

But Fariba is concerned that the cameras even more endangered those who oppose the Taliban government.

“Many people, especially former military members, defenders of human rights and Protestant women, fight to move freely already live in secret,” she says.

“There is a significant concern that surveillance cameras will also be used to monitor women’s children,” she says.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch says that Afghanistan does not have data protection laws to regulate how the CCTV images collected are maintained and use.

Police say that the data remains only for three months, while, according to the Interior Ministry, the cameras do not represent a threat to privacy, since “they are operated from a special and completely confidential room by a specific and professional person in charge.”

The cameras seem to be made in Chinese. The control room monitors and the brand in the feeds that the BBC Vio was named Dahua, a company linked to the Chinese government. The previous reports that the Taliban were in conversations with China’s Huawei technologies to buy cameras were denied by the company. Taliban officials refused to answer BBC questions about where they obtained the team.

Part of the cost of installing the new network is falling into common Afghans that are being monitored by the system.

In a house in the center of Kabul, the BBC spoke with Shella*, who was asked to pay some of the cameras installed in the streets near his home.

“They demanded thousands of Afghans from each home,” she says. It is a large amount in a country where those women who have work can earn only around 5,000 Afghans ($ 68; £ 54) per month.

The humanitarian situation in Kabul, and in Afghanistan in general, remains precarious after years of war. The economy of the country is in crisis, but the financing of international aid has stopped to a large extent 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 energy cuts in three days,” says Shlaya. “We had to take loans to cover costs.

“People are starving, what is the use of these cameras for them?”

Taliban say that if people do not want to contribute, they can file an official complaint.

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

In spite of the guarantees, the rights activists both inside and outside Afghanistan continue to have concerns about how such a powerful surveillance system will be used.

Jaber, a vegetable seller in Kabul, says that cameras represent another way in which Afghans feel helpless.

“They treat us as garbage, they deny us the opportunity to make a living, and the authorities consider us useless,” he told the BBC.

“We can’t do anything.”

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

With additional reports from Peter Ball