Taliban and Updates: Life Under Taliban Rule

now that the final withdrawal of u.s troops has begun many afghans in Kabul believe the central government will struggle to prevent the Taliban from sweeping back into power once the last American soldiers leave by September we wanted to see what Afghanistan could look like under the Taliban's rule and managed to negotiate rare access to an area just west of Kabul controlled by the extremist group.

more than 50 per cent of the country is now controlled or contested by the Taliban with over 70 districts fully held by the group and that number is only growing this is waldo province a strategic area in central Afghanistan that is the gateway to the country's capital and

we're driving along a dangerous stretch of roadway called highway 1 which connects Kabul to Kandahar the birthplace of the Taliban we're just crossing from the government control side of Kabul into Taliban controlled territory and the farmers and the factories that are here all their taxes are paid to the Taliban as well we're in a very small local car so that people don't notice us for our safety we smuggled ourselves deep inside the region by dressing like locals

I've been told to wear a traditional Afghan burqa, a religious covering the Taliban requires women to wear outside the home look at this is huge every few meters there's a massive crater where there's been an attack or a road bomb it kind of gives you an impression of just how much fighting there has been here being one here's a crater there's another one from here on out

we were reliant on a small group of fighters to guide us on the tour no contact with our security team in Kabul was permitted while we were there once we entered the village i was told i could remove the burqa and put on the hijab this village that we're in now is a