Under Taliban Rule: Calm Chaos Prevails in Kabul

A bearded young man stares at a foreign passport, searching for a visa to the now obsolete Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. A white flag bearing the shahada, the Islamic oath, flutters over the border crossing in Hairatan, which from August 15 has marked the northern frontier of the new Islamic Emirate.

The man puts a stamp on the first page of the passport, the one that should remain blank. He doesn’t know how to scan the traveler’s bag so he opens it and meticulously goes through its contents. He makes up for his lack of experience with a smile and wishes the travelers a good trip in broken English.

Calm chaos are the best words to describe the situation in Afghanistan one month after the Taliban takeover.

The withdrawal of foreign forces, a hasty evacuation of foreigners and thousands of Afghans fleeing to safety after the fall of Kabul was followed by procedural chaos and nationwide confusion. No one knows how harsh the new rulers will be. But everyone knows that the old days of relatively relaxed social and political relations are gone.