Taliban governance and women's rights highlighted in BBC investigation

A two-year BBC investigation provides a rare look into the daily operations and governance of the Taliban regime five years after their return to power in Afghanistan. The report features interviews with former officials, including a commander who admitted to the destruction of the ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan and another responsible for suicide bombings in Kabul.

The investigation highlights the increasing restrictions placed on women. In one documented encounter in northern Afghanistan, an 18-year-old woman, identified by the pseudonym ‘Tumba’, requested a divorce from her abusive husband from Governor Abdullah Sarchandi. During the meeting, the Governor dismissed women as ‘senseless’ and ‘lacking in intelligence,’ a sentiment met with laughter by the surrounding male officials and elders.