The Taliban Are Getting Stronger In Afghanistan As U.S. And NATO Forces Exit

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/05/ [login to see] /the-taliban-are-getting-stronger-in-afghanistan-as-u-s-and-nato-forces-exit
At a dusty bus station on this city's outskirts, ticket hawkers call out for passengers to the southern city of Kandahar. It's a 300-mile route — and the Taliban control key parts of the highway.

There are gun battles along the route, and the Taliban undertake violent ambushes of Afghan forces.

But for bus driver Jan Mohammad, the highway seems to be the safest it has been in years because of the Taliban. "We are at ease now because the police don't harass us for bribes," says Jan Mohammad, 32, who like many Afghans, does not have a family name. Talibs even issue receipts for customs duties they collect so that drivers don't have to pay again, he says. And there's less highway robbery, he adds: "Robbers can't even spend five minutes on the road, because the Talibs zip over on their motorbikes whenever they hear of a problem."

Yet he acknowledges it's not safe for everyone. "They check the IDs of passengers," he says. "If you are with the Afghan military, they take you off the bus." Rights groups say the Taliban have detained and sometimes killed those suspected of working with government security forces.