Kabul fell on the 15 August without a fight. Since then, the Taliban have occupied the city. Terrified Afghans desperate to leave fled to the airport in scenes that will come to symbolise the shambolic American withdrawal.
A few weeks earlier, when they were in the middle of planning their final offensive, we were the last journalist to meet them. We gained access to the towns and villages they administered. They showed us their hospitals, where men and women were treated separately. We slept alongside their combatants, shared their meals and they told us that how easily Kabul would fall.
We saw them distribute the considerable arms they had recovered from the defeated Afghan army, which they planned to use to conquer the capital. And they authorised us to film their Sharia courts, where a judge administered ‘divine law’ with a masked executioner at his side, ready to immediately implement any sentence.
It’s likely that what we witnessed and filmed is just a prelude to what will come to be imposed on all the country. The Taliban now rule the lives of all Afghans. They showed us how they intend to do.