The Taliban’s Amir, Mawlvi Haibatollah, has published a succinct decree laying down basic rule of law guidelines for detention operations by the Emirate’s premier intelligence agency, the G.D.I. This podcast is intended as a reality check. The decree states that torture is not permitted in any circumstances and sets a limit on how long the G.D.I. can hold prisoners without charge. Torture has been a recurrent theme in the national intelligence agencies which have operated in Afghanistan since the outbreak of war in 1978.

In this episode Professor Michael Semple and Tamim Asey start with discussing the decree and then explore the Emirate’s approach to operating Afghanistan’s intelligence agency. What are their agency’s mission and approach? How central is the intelligence agency in the Taliban’s state building project. And can the Amir’s decree really bring the rule of law to those long-feared torture chambers?

Podcast produced by Colm Heatley.