Nowadays, people compare Afghanistan to a giant prison. Such a comparison is chiefly conducted due to the imposition of severe restrictions on the public and private lives of the people by the Taliban group. These restrictions have been extended from the public space to the most private places, including couples’ beds. The imposition of any restrictions is similar to a wall drawn around the citizens. Now that the walls have been completed, a part of this big prison has become smart and another part is going to be smart soon with the assistance of China’s advanced technology. Subsequently, every movement of the citizens will be monitored by the ruling group and the Taliban will follow them everywhere. This is what will happen in the country soon.
Recently, Abdul Matin Qane, the spokesperson of the Taliban Ministry of Interior, said that so far more than 62,000 public closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras have been installed in Kabul city and some other important places in the country, maintaining that the plan would cover the whole country. He added that there are more hidden cameras than public cameras in Kabul city. Last year, when the Kaj educational center in the Dasht-e-Barchi district of Kabul was attacked by ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), the Taliban ordered the citizens to install CCTV cameras on the gates of their houses. One year after that incident, the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior announced the installation and activation of more than 62,000 public cameras in the city of Kabul. These cameras are connected to a center in the Taliban police headquarters in Kabul, where the roads and people’s houses are monitored.
The installation of these cameras raised the concern of citizens since last year. People are concerned about the possibility of violating their privacy, and this concern is becoming more serious with each passing day. Now that, according to some reports, the Taliban, in cooperation with the Chinese technology company Huawei, is going to cover the whole country with the company’s CCTV cameras, once again the issue of privacy and the need to respect it has been raised. They don’t care about these concerns. In countries with democratic governments, privacy is very important. Violation of that privacy, even by the legitimate government, is prohibited. One example is the Canadian case of R. and Wang. A court in 2018 convicted Wang of possessing drugs for the purpose of selling them. The ruling was based on a video captured by government surveillance cameras from Wang’s home. Wang claimed those documents were invalid because the cameras violated his privacy. In the end, he won the case and the charges against him were dismissed. In a society ruled by the Taliban, it is impossible to even conceive the possibility of such protection of people’s privacy.
Importance of the User
The installation of CCTV cameras by governments is not a noble event. These cameras are used all over the world. Its main use is to deter crimes or spot criminals after committing a crime. While the installation of these cameras has been controversial in some countries, it hasn’t been controversial in others. Where there is trust between the people and the government and the government regulates its behavior according to the laws, people are less concerned about the installation of these cameras. In places where the government and people can’t trust each other, these cameras become extremely scary and terrifying. Tanzania is one of the countries that have experienced the installation of controversial CCTV cameras. A successful example is the United Kingdom, where 5.2 million CCTV cameras have been installed throughout the country, one camera for every 13 people. There, however, people are not concerned given the existence of a legitimate and law-oriented government, which has its own guidelines, rules, and regulations for the use of them.
Whether the CCTV cameras are administered by a legitimate government or a terrorist group is crucial. Additionally, it is important that there are guidelines for its use and what laws have been passed for it. People care about who their photos and videos are being recorded, viewed, and possibly used by. Therefore, besides the fact that the installation of multiple cameras itself threatens people’s privacy, its use by a lawless terrorist group is the worst thing that can happen to people’s privacy. After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, they immediately dismissed the constitution and consequently all the existing laws. Now the country is governed in the absence of law, where there is no deterrent mechanism against the behavior of Taliban gunmen. A Taliban fighter acts as a law, a lawmaker, a law enforcement officer, a judge, and a crime enforcer. In such a country, installing CCTV cameras is not legal either. This leaves the hands of their users (Talib gunmen) free to go anywhere they want, take pictures and videos of people, and break the boundaries of privacy and the public.
Will these cameras ensure Afghanistan’s security?
The installation of CCTV cameras was initiated by the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Since 2008, when the threats of the Taliban escalated in the cities, the government installed some CCTV cameras in the city, specifically at intersections, entrance gates of Kabul city, and other public and crowded areas. The republic government could not achieve its goal for the installation of those cameras. It was chiefly due to the lack of sufficient cameras and the utilization of vehicles by the Taliban and ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) fighters for carrying out their attacks, making their identification difficult. In most of the major attacks carried out by the Taliban and ISIS-K fighters in Kabul city in the last decade, their perpetrators often passed under the government’s surveillance cameras but were not identified. For example, in early 2017, the Ministry of Interior was attacked by ISIS-K in one of the central parts of the country. At that time, General Dawood Amin, the then-Kabul police chief, told the media that the attackers passed under the surveillance cameras twice with a black glass car without license plates, but were not detected. According to him, the guards of the Ministry of Interior could not identify them deeming that they were security forces. Subsequently, the attacks of Taliban and ISIS-K continued on the cities until the government fell. Following the fall, ISIS-K assumed the joint mission of itself and the Taliban group, continuously launching suicide and explosive attacks on the cities.
If at that time the attackers could reach important and sensitive points and carry out their attacks with camouflage, they would also camouflage themselves by installing more cameras. When the CCTV cameras around the Kabul airport did not prevent the ISIS-K forces from attacking the fleeing people while passing the checkpoints and restrictions of the Taliban fighters, then the camera alone could not provide security. Now that the Taliban fighters look similar to the fighters of other terrorist groups such as ISIS-K and use the same type of cover, it is more difficult to discern them. This group has also given documents and licenses to single-key cars, which can provide grounds for abuse in security events. Therefore, the Taliban, who have not yet learned how to deal with citizens, can only use these cameras against people.
In fact, insecurity in the past and present has emanated from the Taliban nest. As soon as the Taliban group wants and is able to control its fighters and officials and deter them from interfering in the pockets and throats of the people, the feeling of security will return to society to a large extent. This does not need Chinese cameras and companies.
Increase in Extortion by the Taliban
There is no trust between the people and the ruling group. This Taliban, which has been dealing with extortion since its establishment, installing CCTV cameras in cities and people’s homes, provides the ground for more extortions by the gunmen and even its officials and leaders. Those who film their sodomy and sexual relations with young boys for the purpose of sexual blackmail, when they install their cameras on the gates of people’s houses, can control all the commutes and film people’s relationships. At that time, extortion will increase. The sense of security that does not exist even now will be replaced by constant fear.
Intimidation Strategy
There are two types of relations between rulers and citizens: one-way and two-way. In dictatorial regimes, relations are one-sided and orders are issued by the ruling government with laws being established in a way where the people are not involved and their interests are not considered. The second type of relationship is prevalent in democratic and free governments, where the will and interests of citizens influence the government’s decisions. In such a situation, people can challenge the government and reject some of its orders that they find contrary to their laws and interests. On the other hand, the people’s representatives in the parliament enact laws in which the people’s interests are necessarily prioritized.
Now that the Taliban group has dominated the fate of the people in Afghanistan, there is no parliament, no laws, and no representation. So, here is the worst kind of one-way relationship between citizens and rulers. Unlike democratic and people-oriented governments, in dictatorial regimes, the rulers cannot satisfy the people by providing services. Therefore, instead of satisfying the citizens, they intimidate them to gain control over them. Spreading fear is the strategy of this type of government to control the people, and this has been the most central strategy of the Taliban since its inception. They use every tool and opportunity to scare more people. Social networks, media, roads, and government offices across the country are used by the Taliban to intimidate people.
Filming people’s tortures, slapping them, slaughtering, and any other violent behavior and publishing them in the virtual space and visual media is done for this purpose. They cannot turn their opponents into supporters and friends by providing services and job opportunities. They lack such ability. The only thing they are good at is scaring people. Those who once considered filming and taking pictures and even viewing them as haram, now that “haram” of yesterday has become “halal” today and is used by this group to scare people. So far, this strategy of the Taliban has had an effective result. While people are suffering from poverty, heavy restrictions, Taliban oppression, unemployment, and discrimination, they cannot raise their voices of protest. They are afraid of raising their voices and being tortured and killed by the Taliban. After these CCTVs, it will further spread fear and keep people in constant fear.
Since there is no law in the country, people are not informed about what action and behavior might blow their heads or at least throw them into the Taliban’s torture camps. The Taliban regime, which has no law in any field, will not make a law in the field of using CCTV cameras. In the absence of law, people do not know what behavior can be interpreted as a crime. Besides, the behavior of the Taliban differs from one region to another. This is related to the morals and behavior of the Taliban, as well as to the people themselves and their relationship with the Taliban. The less people have a relationship with the Taliban, the more they are angered and oppressed by this group. In that case, they may interpret any behavior as a crime and start torturing and killing people. This situation, thanks to the engagement of Taliban Islam with Chinese technology, will turn Afghanistan into a smart prison where every Taliban member can choose their victim according to their will and torture them or claim their life.
Read this article in Farsi here.