Photos: Riding along with the Taliban police in Afghanistan - Los Angeles Times
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Photos: Riding along with the Taliban police

Men with rifles ride in a vehicle at night
Taliban fighters go on patrol in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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In its almost two-decade fight with the U.S., the Taliban worked at every turn to undermine the former Afghan government, deriding its leaders as corrupt stooges whose forces could never protect Afghans from the group’s ferocious attacks. But the Taliban is now in charge, and with power comes a daunting challenge: convincing Afghans — many of them with bitter memories of the last time the fundamentalist group ran the government — that it can govern and police as well as it can fight.

A fruit cart vendor passes by and offers bananas to Taliban fighters
A passing fruit vendor offers bananas to Taliban fighters stationed at a security checkpoint in Kabul, Afghanistan.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
An armed, uniformed man leans in a car window to talk with a driver
A Taliban member talks to a motorist at a security checkpoint in Kabul.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Taliban members take a man into custody.
Nasrat Khoadim, left, a commander, helps fellow Taliban fighters as they arrest a man who was allegedly carrying a sharp weapon in public.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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During the day, Mawlawi Shaker, left, the new chief of this city's Police District 10,
Mawlawi Shaker, left, the Taliban’s new chief of Police District 10 in Kabul, Afghanistan, goes through some paperwork.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Taliban fighters praying next to civilians
Taliban fighters pray next to civilians in Kabul, Afghanistan.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
One man sits holding a document as four others stand beside him
Men wait to discuss legal disputes in the office of Abdul Qadeer Shahadatyar, a Taliban judge.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A Taliban patrol is stuck in rush hour traffic in downtown Kabul
A Taliban patrol is stuck in rush hour traffic in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
A man is seen behind a barred window as other men stand outside
Police District 10 chief Mawlawi Shaker talks to prisoners in Kabul as other Taliban members stand by.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
 Taliban police soldiers stand guard at a security check point and watch traffic go by, in Kabul
Taliban police stand guard at a security checkpoint and watch passing traffic in Kabul, Afghanistan.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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