Kabul, September 26, 2023, The Taliban are creating a large-scale surveillance network for Afghan cities that could involve repurposing a plan crafted by the US before its 2021 pull-out, an Interior Ministry spokesman told Reuters, as authorities seek to supplement thousands of cameras already in the capital, Kabul.
The Taliban say they are focused on restoring security and clamping down on ISIS, the extremist group that has claimed responsibility for many major attacks on Afghan cities, and have also consulted Chinese tech giant Huawei about potential co-operation, the spokesman said.
Preventing attacks by international militant groups – including prominent organisations such as ISIS – is at the heart of the interaction between the Taliban and many foreign nations, including the US and China, according to readouts from those meetings.
But some analysts question the cash-strapped regime’s ability to fund the programme and rights groups have expressed concern that any resources will be used to crackdown on opponents.
Details of how the Taliban intend to expand and manage mass surveillance, including obtaining the US plan, have not been previously reported.
The mass camera rollout, which will involve a focus on “important points” in Kabul and elsewhere, is part of a new security strategy that will take four years to be fully implemented, Ministry of Interior spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told Reuters.
“At the present we are working on a Kabul security map, which is [being completed] by security experts and [is taking] lots of time,” he said. “We already have two maps, one which was made by US for the previous government and second by Turkey.”
He did not give details of when the Turkish plan was made.
A US State Department representative said Washington was not “partnering” the Taliban and has “made clear to the Taliban that it is their responsibility to ensure that they give no safe haven to terrorists”.
A Turkish government representative did not respond to a request for comment.
Source- The National
