Surreal Photos From the Taliban’s First Month Back in Power

It’s been one month since Taliban fighters entered Kabul and the country’s president fled into exile, as the Islamist group completed their lightning-fast takeover of Afghanistan.

In that short space of time Kabul in particular and Afghan society as a whole has undergone a major transformation.

A huge number of people have fled the country, many during an immediate and chaotic scramble sparked by the Taliban unexpectedly seizing Kabul.

The Taliban initially claimed, to a sceptical worldwide audience, that an incoming government would be inclusive, that women’s rights would be protected under Sharia – Islamic law – and that journalists would be allowed to work “within our cultural framework”. All three promises have been clearly broken in the last month.

In the past weeks, the Taliban brought back a feared ministry that during the 1990s was responsible for sending patrols of men out on the streets with whips to ensure women obeyed draconian laws, while a US-designated terrorist was named the country’s interior minister.

The past month not only marked the Taliban regaining power, but the final withdrawal of US troops from the country, ending a 20-year war that the West lost.

On the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, the Taliban raised their flag from presidential palace in Kabul, and a rally was held by women in favour of new policies that would ban women and men from going to university together.

Below we round-up some of the more surreal pictures that provide a glimpse of how a nation, and the lives of millions of people, was transformed in the space of a few weeks.