Day 1 of Taliban's "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan", chaos, blood and destruction

On the first day of what the Taliban called the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan", Kabul, a vibrant metropolis of six million, was transformed into a slow, male-dominated city with no police or traffic controls and closed shops everywhere.

A city that was packed with cars just 48 hours ago and hundreds of people lined up outside banks, visa processing offices and travel agencies was almost stopped.

Remains of the western-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, built over 20 years of international support, dawdle. The parts and the K9 cages of police checkpoints were still standing, but unmanned.

[caption id="attachment_36893" align="aligncenter" width="612"] No one should fear the Taliban, a Taliban fighter said[/caption]

The huge explosive scanners are still there, but with no one to operate them. Roads leading to the airport were without traffic police to direct them.

The most striking difference is the new inhabitants of the city: Taliban fighters who had come from all 34 provinces of the nation. They were proudly waving their black-and-white flag and showing off their weapons from the same four-wheelers that used to be sent all over the country to hunt them down. They could even be seen outside the well-protected presidential palace, where, until Sunday afternoon, former president Ashraf Ghani had sat and reconsidered the group through the region of Afghanistan's provinces. [caption id="attachment_36894" align="aligncenter" width="623"] Taliban men on the police cars in Kabul City on August 16[/caption]

By all accounts, most of the young men wore the 1996 Taliban badges, wearing traditional beards with charcoal-rimmed eyes, and weapons.

But there was a terrible difference between these men and their predecessors, each of the new members were holding a smartphone and was engaged in taking selfies with murals of the nation’s hundredth independence. "We are here to serve the people," said Ahmad, who hails from the eastern province of Maidan Wardak and gave only one name. Ahmad and his half-dozen friends were more than happy to pose for pictures and take selfies with passersby's.

One even specifically took out his weapon and held out the galaxy phone in front of a young man.

"Of course you can take a picture. Take as much as you want," the group of Taliban fighters told media. During their five years or so, the Taliban banned photography and did not give the public access to the internet. [caption id="attachment_36895" align="aligncenter" width="537"] Aeroplane full of people trying to escape Afghanistan on Monday 16 August 2021[/caption]

Ahmad said he arrived in a convoy of Arghandai, about 40 minutes from the city, at about 3 a.m. Monday. He and his men were transferred as part of the Taliban's attempts to control all possible plagues and other crimes after police and other security forces apparently left.

"It was crazy. Nobody was on the road, no police, nothing," he said in the early hours of the morning in Kabul.

He stated that when they landed at a police station, they found bags of heroin, which they accused the police of acting. Although the claim can not be independently verified, residents of cities like Kabul have long accused the police of engaging in or complicity vis-à-vis the nation's drug trade.